1. "The Bell telephone: patent nonsense?": A report from the Washington Post.
["Now, for loyal Post readers who've been waiting patiently for the past 122 years, here's an update on that amazing story: In a new book, "The Telephone Gambit," science historian Seth Shulman concludes that [Zenas F. Wilber] was telling the truth and that [Alexander Graham] Bell plagiarized [Elisha] Gray's idea for the telephone."]
2. "Obama surges past Clinton in Democratic race": Reuters reports.
["Barack Obama has surged past Hillary Clinton to open a big national lead in the Democratic presidential race, according to a Reuters/Zogby poll released on Wednesday. Obama also leads Republican front-runner John McCain in a potential November election match-up while Clinton trails McCain, enhancing Obama's argument he is the Democrat with the best shot at capturing the White House."]
3. "Thoughts on the Foreign Language Oscar": By Nick Dawson for Filmmaker Magazine.
["Variety recently reported that producer Mark Johnson, currently the chairman of AMPAS' foreign language branch, is lobbying for its reform, exactly because of the omission of films like Four Months, Three Weeks and Two Days. "I feel the committee doesn't reflect the Academy at large and I have to do something to effect that,” Johnson said. “We can change things so we can incorporate some different voices.” I personally feel that what the current system offers is exactly that – different voices – and hope that will continue to be the case for the foreseeable future."]
4. "'Flashing Lights': The Rap Videos of Spike Jonze": Brandon Soderberg explores at No Trivia.
["The 'Flashing Lights' video is a good excuse to look back at Jonze's decidedly anti-Hype Williams rap videos:"]
5. "Stars 'sign on to Wolverine film'": Those are some mighty humps, Logan.
["Actor Ryan Reynolds and Black Eyed Peas rapper will.i.am have signed on to appear in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, according to industry paper Variety. Reynolds, currently in romantic comedy Definitely, Maybe, will play Deadpool - an assassin with healing abilities. Meanwhile, will.i.am is expected to play John Wraith, a mutant who has the power to teleport and ages very slowly. "]
Quote of the Day: Woody Allen
Image of the Day (click to enlarge): Fidel Castro in a January 15th photo taken by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva; from a report at MSNBC.
Clip of the Day: The original cast of Pacific Overtures performs "Someone in a Tree" (dedicated to all you Sixteen Candles fans).
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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.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Links for the Day (February 20th, 2008)
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10 comments:
So, after all, Graham Bell is not the lord of the rings? That's one bell of a story (I hate myself).
But I love what Devin from Chud has to say about the latest casting news from Wolverine:
"Think about it: the target audience of these books are men my age. Incredible."
Almost as incredible is that the film is being directed by Gavin Hood. Next up Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck adapts for the big screen Mr Sinister.
God, I hate Marvel Comics...
I'm a Canadian with little say in the matter, but what the hell:
"Go 'bama!"
I hope my endorsement doesn't have the opposite of the desired effect.
"Someone in a Tree" -- What a wonderful thing to find on a dismal day! I worship Sondheim, and if I had to choose (which I never could, so don't ask), this would be one of my favorites. I saw the original production of "Pacific Overtures" on Broadway and the memory is vivid oh so many years later. Thank you, thank you for this surprise.
(I have no idea what the connection to "Sixteen Candles" is, but that's OK.)
All right, now that I've got that out of the way, if Barack gets the nom, who is his VP? He needs some help in the South, and with elderly voters. Who is most likely to give Obama a leg up in those areas. I'm just a dumb Canadian who hasn't been paying too much attention, so lend me a hand here. I'm really curious, given that your next prez is most likely going to be either an African American or a woman. Interesting times.
I wonder about Castro no more. That's the first update I've seen of Castro in the past couple of years that hasn't been from the lips of Chavez.
Odie, might be time to look for choice hat-eating recipes... :)
Regarding veep speculation for Obama, the most likely candidate I've heard is Sen. Jim Webb of VA (he's got national security cred, he's a former Republican, he's from a purple state, he's a proven fighter, which is what you want in a veep.)
Depending on how lasting the rift becomes between Sen. Obama and Sen Clinton's demographic base, some say he may pick a woman with executive experience, such as Gov. Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas or Gov. Janet Napolitano of Arizona. But Sebelius might've hurt herself with a not-so-impressive Democratic response to the State of the Union, and Napolitano probably lost some cachet once the GOP picked an Arizonan to lead their ticket.
Gov. Tim Kaine of Virginia is another name that comes up quite often, as he was an early Obama supporter and he's also from a purple state. But I'm betting Obama might look to someone with a little more experience, to offset that argument by McCain. In this regard, Bill Richardson, Joe Biden, and Chris Dodd all seem plausible contenders still.
It'll also depend on who McCain picks, of course. Condi Rice is a name that comes up occasionally for him, which would be an interesting pick. On one hand, she steals some of Sen. Obama's history-making thunder. On the other, she ties McCain that much more closely to Bush-Cheney, which is not where you want to be in Election 2008.
Obama's VP will clearly be the Mayor of Imaginationland.
Ah, our first Cynic of the Day. Isn't there some sort of imaginary award for that? Lean in a little closer JL, I have a big wet kiss for you.
There is no one big or singular enough in the party who might help Obama carry the South. The Democrats have a hard time there regardless of the candidate. I really like John Edwards, but can you see him on the ticket? I'm not sure I can...
I don't think the contest is truly over anyway. There's the Texas primary in March(?), which might still turn quite a lot of things around.
Besides, isn't this thing headed to convention? CNN recently did a bit where they allocated all the remaining delegates, alternatively, to one or the other to indicate that neither candidate would have the requisite amount to ensure an outright mandate before the convention.
The importance of Ohio and Texas has been greatly overstated. Put simply, the math doesn't work for Sen. Clinton anymore. She has to win both states by margins of 60-40 or even 65-35 which, barring an Obama meltdown of earth-staggering proportions, just isn't going to happen.
On March 4, even if Clinton wins both OH and TX by small margins, the pledged delegate math will become evident to the pundits and, more importantly, the superdelegates. The party has no vested interest in keeping this going until August, and will end it sometime in the week thereafter. And, particularly given that Obama continues to poll better against McCain in both national and state-to-state match-ups than Clinton does, their choice won't be an agonizing one.
Clinton winning both states by 20-point margins is close-to-impossible. The best case scenario is she wins both states by surprising margins, say 10-15 points, in which case we may -- may -- go on to Pennsylvania on April 22.
But, mathematically speaking, Sen. Clinton campaign is a Dead Woman Walking. The campaign can't come back, and they know it.
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