The 1959 version is a terrific and unintentionally* campy piece of work, with Charlton Heston and Stephen Boyd chewing the scenery at every opportunity. In short, it was a very good 1959 costume epic, and already a remake of two separate silent films. It was the pinnacle of Ben-Hur-itude, and it needs no remake ever…

Ryan Lochte is very, very good at (a) swimming and (b) looking hot. Thinking and planning ahead, not so much.

I’m not opposed to porn if it’s both produced and consumed by fully consenting adults, but neither “consenting” nor “adult” applies here. Elizabeth Smart’s captor used porn as a weapon to hurt and humiliate her. And her religious beliefs would probably make her anti-porn even if that asshole hadn’t abducted and raped…

Fergodsakes, can people just stop concern-trolling the Hahner sisters? What evidence does anyone have that (a) they didn’t do their best in the race or (b) they held hands at the finish line for cynical reasons? It was a lovely moment, it didn’t detract one bit from the event, and the sisters don’t have a reputation…

To paraphrase an exchange I had with a friend on FB:

I have mixed feelings about Snowden. I don’t think he’s either a hero or a traitor, and I think he’s best left where he is. I do think he did his best to minimize the danger to others, as well as revealing the extent of often needless domestic spying. In a sense, it was civil disobedience; he’s accepted the…

Attractive, athletic, young single people hook up sometimes? Who knew? (They distribute lots and lots of free condoms to the athletes at the beginning of the Olympics, no?)

I remember watching that race, and feeling really sorry for both Decker and Budd. It was just one of those freak things, and it messed up both of them for a long time.

It was insanely awesome to watch her turn so far ahead of all the others. At one point, Mr. Sububi started joking “Stop, you’re going the wrong way!”

Hmmmm. Why is it I love all the things you hate? I miss the potlucks we used to have with big groups of friends in the city where we used to live. We hosted a great one with a dozen neighbors last fall, and it was a lot of fun.

I luuuuuuvvv chicken. Steak I can take or leave. (Usually leave. I’d rather have a burger than a steak.)

I never found him especially hot either. Ditto Brad Pitt.

I’m using it now and it’s okay, but I prefer Bioderma Sensibio, which I believe has just become available in the U.S. and U.K. (which were about the only two countries where one couldn’t buy it until the last year or so.) The reason I like the Bioderma is that it’s the only one that doesn’t smell like the plastic it’s…

I’m using it now and it’s okay, but I prefer Bioderma Sensibio, which I believe has just become available in the…

Kate Larson’s biography of Rosemary Kennedy describes a similar fuckup during Rosemary’s birth in 1918; the nurse who arrived at the Kennedy home first had been instructed to not deliver Rose Kennedy’s baby until a physician arrived. The doctor didn’t get there for two hours; according to Larson, the nurse physically…

Maybe they were in league with the teacher who thought that her student’s clock was a bomb, and then put it in her own desk drawer.

The Punta Gorda officer who wielded the gun has already been involved in a few excessive-force accusations — including once letting his K-9 chew on a guy who had been stopped for inadequate bicycle lighting. It’s fairly easy to track this down online.

I’d suggest, for minimum drama, a maximum of one per workplace.

I don’t think any of the Trumpistas realize just how difficult it is to amend the Constitution. The President obviously can’t repeal the Second Amendment, and it’s doubtful we’ll ever have a POTUS who wants to do so anyway. But there seem to be yahoos all over the country who think that the President or even the…

I wouldn’t worry about that. He shut his mouth for a couple of days prior to this, and a lot of us worried about the same thing. Then he rockets off on the fast shuttle to Idiotsville and says what he said today. If his party hasn’t been able to rein him in yet, don’t expect them to do so successfully in the future.

I’ve always cheered for the athletes I liked best. Most were fellow Americans, but quite a few haven’t been. I still fondly remember 1984, when my favorite athletes were Joan Benoit Samuelson (U.S.; won the first-ever women’s marathon), Carlos Lopes (Portugal; oldest-ever winner of the men’s marathon) and Koji…