Tuesday Notes

Hollywood is sucking air at the box-office -- and they aren't doing so well with the home video market, either.

I keep hearing that film is THE storytelling medium of our culture. But then we hear about trends like this and we have to ask whether this isn't just more Hollywood hype. I know a few people who are fanatically into movies -- and even more who go occasionally. But really, most of the movies require incredible levels of hype to make it -- even good ones. Very few box office successes are driven by grass-roots enthusiasm alone. (Napoleon Dynamite is an exception that illustrates the point.)

People just don't have time -- or they prefer to spend their time doing something less expensive and more interactive.
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Glenn Wolf, our covnet list administrator, is taking a stab at blogging -- glennsweblog.blogspot.com
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Lauralea Friesen, who is one of my favorite story-tellers in the whole blogosphere has a new blogsite -- lauralea.ca.
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Fodder for the politically inclined evangelical. You're on the right path, Tony.
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A "bloody knife" has been discovered in a backyard cabinet of Laci Peterson's former home. As if CSI Modesto hadn't gone over every inch of that property already... It appears that someone is just trying to squeeze another season of action-packed drama out of a real tragedy -- at the expense of the family and the community.
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Children's merry-go-round doubles as water pump for the community. See also some other creative designs. (Thanks, BoingBoing)
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The US has directed-energy phasers -- Star Trek style weapons -- which I'm sure will guarantee a more peaceful world (note slightly cynical tone).
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It's that time of the year. Lunch today was a corn on the cob feast.