Quote of the Day (2008-09-30)

Lisa Simpson: Dad, look! [holds TV up] Homer Simpson: Television! Teacher, mother... Homer Simpson: [lustily] ... secret lover. Urge to kill... fading... fading... fading - rising! Fading... fading... gone. [Family sighs] Homer Simpson: Come, family. sit in the snow with daddy and let us all bask in TV's warm glowing warming glow. [Hours later, everyone is frozen] man introducing Tony Awards: [on TV] Live, from Broadway, it's the Tony Awards, with your hosts Tyne Daly and Hal Linden! Bart Simpson: [With difficulty] Homer... change channel. Homer Simpson: Can't! frozen! [music on TV: "One chorus line of people...”] Homer Simpson: [Family screams] Homer Simpson: Urge to kill... rising...

Source: The Simpsons

Quote of the Day (2008-09-27)

Nigel Tufnel: The numbers all go to eleven. Look, right across the board, eleven, eleven, eleven and... Marty DiBergi: Oh, I see. And most amps go up to ten? Nigel Tufnel: Exactly. Marty DiBergi: Does that mean it's louder? Is it any louder? Nigel Tufnel: Well, it's one louder, isn't it? It's not ten. You see, most blokes, you know, will be playing at ten. You're on ten here, all the way up, all the way up, all the way up, you're on ten on your guitar. Where can you go from there? Where? Marty DiBergi: I don't know. Nigel Tufnel: Nowhere. Exactly. What we do is, if we need that extra push over the cliff, you know what we do? Marty DiBergi: Put it up to eleven. Nigel Tufnel: Eleven. Exactly. One louder. Marty DiBergi: Why don't you just make ten louder and make ten be the top number and make that a little louder? Nigel Tufnel: [pause] These go to eleven.

Source: This is Spinal Tap

Quote of the Day (2008-09-26)

C.D. Bales: [challenged to think of twenty jokes better than "Big Nose"] Let's start with... Obvious: 'scuse me, is that your nose or did a bus park on your face? Meteorological: everybody take cover, she's going to blow! Fashionable: you know, you could de-emphasize your nose if you wore something larger, like... Wyoming. Personal: well, here we are, just the three of us. Punctual: all right, Delbman, your nose was on time but YOU were fifteen minutes late! Envious: Ooooh, I wish I were you! Gosh, to be able to smell your own ear! Naughty: uh, pardon me, sir, some of the ladies have asked if you wouldn't mind putting that thing away. Philosophical: you know, it's not the size of a nose that's important, it's what's IN IT that matters. Humorous: laugh and the world laughs with you. Sneeze, and it's goodbye, Seattle! Commercial: hi, I'm Earl Scheib, and I can paint that nose for $39.95! Polite: uh, would you mind not bobbing your head? The, uh, orchestra keeps changing tempo. Melodic: Everybody. He's got... Everyone: [singing] The whole world in his nose! C.D. Bales: Sympathetic: aw, what happened? Did your parents lose a bet with God? Complimentary: you must love the little birdies to give them this to perch on. Scientific: Say, does that thing there influence the tides? Obscure: whoa! I'd hate to see the grindstone. Well, think about it. Inquiring: when you stop to smell the flowers, are they afraid? French: saihr, ze pigs have refused to find any more truffles until you leave! Pornographic: finally, a man who can satisfy two women at once! How many is that? Dean: Fourteen, Chief! C.D. Bales: Religious: the Lord giveth... and He just kept on giving, didn't He? Disgusting: Say, who mows your nose hair? Paranoid: keep that guy away from my cocaine! Aromatic: it must wonderful to wake up in the morning and smell the coffee... in Brazil. Appreciative: Oooh, how original! Most people just have their teeth capped. [he pauses, pretending to be stumped, while the crowd urges him on] C.D. Bales: All right. Dirty: your name wouldn't be Dick, would it?

Source: Roxanne

Quote of the Day (2008-09-25)

Cmdr. Susan Ivanova: God, I hate this part. I'm always afraid I've broken something. Michael Garabaldi: It'll be fine. I've done this before. [the computer restarts] Michael Garabaldi: Ah, Told ya. Computer [pause] Michael Garabaldi: Computer? Sparky the Computer: Hey, what do you want? Michael Garabaldi: Run diagnostics. Sparky the Computer: What, you got a broken arm or something? I got a station to run here! Cmdr. Susan Ivanova: Computer. Sparky the Computer: I know, do a diagnostic. So, maybe Level 42 doesn't get its quota of oxygen today because I'm distracted, but if it makes you happy! Michael Garabaldi: Stop! Cmdr. Susan Ivanova: Garabaldi? Michael Garabaldi: I just remembered, they tried to install Artificial Intelligence subroutines when the station went operational. They shut it down right away because it didn't work right. Must have come back on-line when the system re-booted. Cmdr. Susan Ivanova: Great! How do we shut it down? Sparky the Computer: I heard that! Are you two easily offended, or what?

Source: Babylon 5

Quote of the Day (2008-09-24)

Diane: Oh no. The thing I feared most has happened. Carla: What? Your Living Bra died of boredom?

Source: Cheers

Quote of the Day (2008-09-23)

Inigo Montoya: Hello there. Slow going? Man in Black: Look, I don't mean to be rude but this is not as easy as it looks, so I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't distract me. Inigo Montoya: [apologetic] Sorry. Man in Black: Thank you.

Source: The Princess Bride

Quote of the Day (2008-09-22)

Derek Smalls: We're very lucky in the band in that we have two visionaries, David and Nigel, they're like poets, like Shelley and Byron. They're two distinct types of visionaries, it's like fire and ice, basically. I feel my role in the band is to be somewhere in the middle of that, kind of like lukewarm water.

Source: This is Spinal Tap

Quote of the Day (2008-09-20)

Inigo Montoya: You are sure nobody's follow' us? Vizzini: As I told you, it would be absolutely, totally, and in all other ways inconceivable. No one in Guilder knows what we've done, and no one in Florin could have gotten here so fast. - Out of curiosity, why do you ask? Inigo Montoya: No reason. It's only... I just happened to look behind us and something is there. Vizzini: What? Probably some local fisherman, out for a pleasure cruise, at night... in... eel-infested waters�

Source: The Princess Bride

Quote of the Day (2008-09-19)

Bravely bold Sir Robin, rode forth from Camelot. He was not afraid to die, o Brave Sir Robin. He was not at all afraid to be killed in nasty ways. Brave, brave, brave, brave Sir Robin! He was not in the least bit scared to be mashed into a pulp, Or to have his eyes gouged out, and his elbows broken. To have his kneecaps split, and his body burned away, And his limbs all hacked and mangled, brave Sir Robin! His head smashed in and his heart cut out, And his liver removed and his bowels unplugged, And his nostrils ripped and his bottom burned off.

Source: Holy Grail

Quote of the Day (2008-09-18)

ARTHUR: Please, please good people. I am in haste. What knight lives in that castle? OLD WOMAN: No one live there. ARTHUR: Well, who is your lord? OLD WOMAN: We don't have a lord. ARTHUR: What? DENNIS: I told you, We're an anarcho-syndicalist commune, we take it in turns to act as a sort of executive officer for the week. ARTHUR: Yes. DENNIS: ... But all the decision of that officer ... ARTHUR: Yes, I see. DENNIS: ... must be approved at a bi-weekly meeting by a simple majority in the case of purely internal affairs. ARTHUR: Be quiet! DENNIS: ... but a two-thirds majority ... ARTHUR: Be quiet! I order you to shut up. OLD WOMAN: Order, eh -- who does he think he is? ARTHUR: I am your king! OLD WOMAN: Well, I didn't vote for you.

Source: Holy Grail

Quote of the Day (2008-09-17)

Elaine: "You've never felt remorse." Jerry: "I know. I feel bad about that."

Source: Seinfeld

Quote of the Day (2008-09-16)

When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of the life to start as soon as possible.

Source: When Harry Met Sally

Quote of the Day (2008-09-15)

And by the way, they're real, and they're spectacular

Source: Seinfeld

Quote of the Day (2008-09-13)

Homer: It's easy to be president. Just point the army and shoot.

Source: The Simpsons

Brady Replacing Bledsoe

Peter King, in comparing the Patriot situation now, with Matt Cassell replacing Tom Brady, with their situation in 2001, with Tom Brady replacing Matt Cassell, makes a rather strange argument:

Is this the same situation as when the unknown Tom Brady stepped in seven years ago? The temptation is to say yes. The reality is it isn't. Brady had 25 starts at Michigan; Cassel had zero at USC. In 2001, New England actually didn't mind playing Brady, even though it came about in a horrible way, with Bledsoe sustaining internal injuries on the hit by Mo Lewis against the Jets.

The Patriots had grown tired of Bledsoe in 2001, thinking he was too much of a signal-calling maverick rather than going with the flow of what the team had game-planned for all week. Fast-forward to today. Brady is the perfect extension of Belichick on the field, and he's eminently coachable, and he's the perfect leader. My feeling is the Patriots knew they were eventually going to move Bledsoe by early in 2001, and so playing Brady early that year was not so painful. They want Brady to play for the next 10 years, so it's totally different now that Cassel HAS to play.

The Patriots were tired of Bledsoe in 2001? The coaching staff might have been. But King seemingly forgets that a few months before the 2001 season began, they gave Bledsoe a record $100 million contract which would have made him a Patriot for life. Just as they want Brady to play for 10 years now, they wanted Bledsoe to be their star for 10 years in 2001. Brady just made them change their minds.

The situations are not the same for the simple reason that there's only one Tom Brady. Granted, no one knew what Brady would become when he took over in 2001 and was about as unknown as Cassell is now. But no one can expect Cassell to do what Brady did, and that's what makes this situation different. If Brady had come in in 2001 and been nothing more than a somewhat capable backup, the situations might be similar. But he didn't.

Quote of the Day (2008-09-12)

Inspector Tiger: This house is surrounded. I'm afraid I must not ask anyone to leave the room. No, I must ask nobody ... no, I must ask everybody to... I must not ask anyone to leave the room. No one must be asked by me to leave the room. No, no one must ask the room to leave. I ... I ... ask the room shall by someone be left. Not. Ask nobody the room somebody leave shall I. Shall I leave the room? Everyone must leave the room... as it is... with them in it. Phew. Understand? Colonel Picketing: You don't want anybody to leave the room.

Source: Monty Python's Flying Circus

Quote of the Day (2008-09-11)

Marge: Bart, would you like to say grace? Bart: Yesum! [Bart says grace in Latin] Homer: What the hell was that? Lisa: Bart's speaking Latin, the language of Plutarc. Homer: [Homer looks blankly] Micky Mouse's dog?

Source: The Simpsons

Quote of the Day (2008-09-10)

BR: We don't sell Tic Tacs, we sell cigarettes. And they're cool, available, and *addictive*. The job is almost done for us.

Source: Thank You For Smoking

Quote of the Day (2008-09-09)

Rebecca: You know, I really think I can put together a great Thanksgiving dinner. This'll be the second one that I've cooked, and believe me, the first one was not the disaster that my family said it was. Those kids had a pretty good time in that ambulance.

Source: Cheers

Quote of the Day (2008-09-08)

Miracle Max: He probably owes you money huh? I'll ask him. Inigo Montoya: He's dead. He can't talk. Miracle Max: Whoo-hoo-hoo, look who knows so much. It just so happens that your friend here is only MOSTLY dead. There's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. Mostly dead is slightly alive. With all dead, well, with all dead there's usually only one thing you can do. Inigo Montoya: What's that? Miracle Max: Go through his clothes and look for loose change.

Source: The Princess Bride

Quote of the Day (2008-09-07)

Juno MacGuff: Yeah, I'm a legend. You know, they call me the cautionary whale.

Source: Juno

Quote of the Day (2008-09-06)

Russ Cargill: Mr. President, you chose me, Russ Cargill, most successful man in America, to head the EPA, the least successful organization. That's why I've narrowed your choices down to five unthinkable options. [spreads the files on the President's desk] Russ Cargill: Each one will cause untold misery and... President Schwarzenegger: [points to File #3] I pick Number Three! Russ Cargill: Really? You don't want to read them first? President Schwarzenegger: I was elected to *lead*, not to *read*. Number Three!

Source: The Simpsons Movie

Quote of the Day (2008-09-05)

"I think she finds my stupidity charming."

Source: Seinfeld

NBC's Streaming Football

NBC will be streaming its weekly NFL broadcast over the web. I'm watching the Giants season opener. Some observations:

• The video is kind of choppy on firefox 3.0. I thought it might just be my PC, which isn't the most powerful in the world, so I tried on my work laptop and it was choppy there too. But in IE 6, the video was smooth. On IE 7, however, nothing came up. The page background started, but the flash player never did anything. It must just be my PC. (I don't use IE too much.)
  
• The video is kind of small, being restricted to only a portion of the browser screen. Even "maximized", it only takes up maybe 1/4 of the screen. Maximized should be maximized.
• One of the selling points of the online experience is the ability to choose different camera angles. It works, pretty much. You can cycle through. But I did have the experience of every time I changed angles, I had to see a commercial which was a bit odd.
• I can't help but comment on the UI design, which isn't very friendly. They need to do a better job exposing controls to make things a bit more intuitive. For example, to cycle between cameras you have to move the mouse over either the right or left side of the display and then click on the arrow that pops up for a few seconds. That's neither intuitive nor user-friendly.

All in all, I'm glad to see someone really embracing web-distribution like this. It's a good start and I'm sure they will get the kinks worked out.

Palin's Speech

I don't get it. The general view of Palin's speech last night is that she did a great job. Instapundit has a poll (unscientific, obviously) with the overwhelmingly dominant view that she "Knocked it out of the park". It was a terrible speech. It just emphasized how desperate the Republicans are.

Let's start with the crowd reaction. They acted like they loved it. She mentions that she has a union husband, and the crowd roars. She mentions that she's proud of her child, and the crowd roars. These are substantive points worthy of crowd approval? No, it's a sign of a crowd desperate to applaud anything coming out of her mouth so that their nominee doesn't look so ridiculous in his choice of running mate.

Comments like "I put it up on eBay" come across like a middle-aged parent of teenagers, which Palin is, trying to show how cool and hip they are. And the crowd roars. I guess they can relate.

What about the content? What content? One praise I've heard is her use of humor, by which they really mean sarcasm. I'm a sarcastic person, so I appreciate the use of sarcasm to make a point. But what point did she make, repeatedly? That she's been an executive, and therefore has the experience that the Obama/Biden ticket lacks. OK, this goes along with the GOP theme that their opponents aren't ready. Mayor Guiliani said essentially the same thing during his speech. But is this really the message the GOP wants to send, that being a senator does not give one experience and help one get prepared to be president, and that only those with executive backgrounds are ready? As part of trying to get Senator McCain elected? This doesn't seem to be an exactly constructive spin on the experience theme.

Finally, to emphasize McCain's maverick nature, the speech ends with McCain breaking tradition and trotting out on stage with his running mate. Just as Obama did the week before. Surely he wasn't trying to imitate his opponent, was he? They just had the same idea, at the same time. And rather than have a change of scenery for the main attraction by moving the stage to a big stadium, they're just going to rearrange the stage. McCain is Obama on a budget!

I'm not an Obama person. I'm actually kind of uncomfortable with him. But the Republicans are not exactly giving me much of an alternative. Are they actually trying in this election?

I will commend Gov. Palin for her delivery. Last night had to have been easily the largest crowd she's ever spoken to, and that doesn't include the millions watching on TV. It had to be nerve wracking for her, but she delivered a smooth and confident speech, looking at home in the political big-time. It's not clear, though, how she will fare with a less amenable and enthusiastic crowd, and in the less controlled environment of stump speeches and vice-presidential debates.

Update: Andrew Sullivan comments, "I have to say that the affect is of someone running for high school president."

Quote of the Day (2008-09-04)

Randal Graves: Which did you like better? "Jedi" or "The Empire Strikes Back"?
Dante Hicks: "Empire".
Randal Graves: Blasphemy.
Dante Hicks: "Empire" had the better ending. I mean, Luke gets his hand cut off, finds out Vader's his father, Han gets frozen and taken away by Boba Fett. It ends on such a down note. I mean, that's what life is, a series of down endings. All "Jedi" had was a bunch of Muppets.

Source: Clerks

Quote of the Day (2008-09-03)

All right all right all right we'll kill him first and then have tea and biscuits.

Source: Holy Grail

Quote of the Day (2008-09-02)

Mr. B: An optimist says, "The drink is half full." A pessimist says, "The drink is half full, but I might have bowel cancer."

Source: Kids in the Hall

Quote of the Day (2008-09-01)

Niles: I'll have a decaf latte, and please be sure to use skim milk. Frasier: I'll have the same. Eric: Got it. [to barista] Eric: Two Gutless Wonders!

Source: Frasier