and these children that you spit on as they try and change their world

Short day today, so I’m going to you for content.
First, post a link in the comments to your favorite videos on TED.com. If you don’t have a favorite yet, visit the site and browse.
Mine:
Second, if you got invited to speak at TED, what would you speak on? You don’t need to be a [...]

one thing about living in Santa Carla I never could stomach, all the damn vampires

People of the Internet! I declare the final showdown. I give you the opportunity you’ve been waiting for.
This is your one and only chance, ever, to convince me that Joss Whedon lives up to the hype.
I’ve long maintained that Whedon scripts dialogue beyond his actor’s capabilities, putting A-list screwball in the mouths of [...]

I was so much older then, I’m younger than that now

Sorry to cut and run, guys, but they’re firing up the time portal and I’m about to jump sixteen years into the past.
Quick question, while we’re on the subject: what three pieces of advice would you give your twelve-year-old self?*
* “Invest in Google” doesn’t count.

superstar, but he didn’t get far

I’m visiting family in Baltimore, taking the train down this morning and back on Monday, so don’t expect much.
If you’d like to contribute, please recommend a book that’s available on the Kindle. Please note: anyone who recommends one of the first twelve items listed at that link gets five across the eyes.

there’s something in my head, but it’s not me

Got home and promptly went to bed at 6:30 last night. Slept until the alarm went off this morning, whereupon I called in sick to work and slept another few hours. That seems to have put a real dent in this head cold, so I think I made the right call.
Plenty of odd [...]

you don’t need no money with a face like that, do ya honey?

My iPod – the fourth generation model, 40 GB, no color display – had been freezing about once a week and requiring a hard reset. Last Friday it finally died while charging, giving me the iPod frown.
I’ll take it to the Geniuses to see if they can salvage it, naturally, but I had been [...]

see, with a pen I’m extreme

One of the signs that I’m getting older, aside from recurring aches if I sit too long in a weird position, heartburn from eating greasy foods, a vaguer recollection of events as recent as two years ago, seeing my peers get married and sire children, and of course my continual fear of death, is the [...]

brother you are going down

Name the last good movie that each of the following stars made:
Al Pacino
Nicole Kidman
Robert DeNiro
Keanu Reeves
Martin Lawrence
John Travolta
Annette Bening

I’ll give my own answers later.
Edit: Now is later!
Al Pacino: Insomnia
Nicole Kidman: The Others
Robert deNiro: Ronin
Keanu Reeves: Point Break
Martin Lawrence: Bad Boys
John Travolta: Hairspray
Annette Bening: American Beauty

I’d rather be with your friends, mate, ’cause they are much fitter

I will now write the only post that I will ever devote to the news of Sarah Palin being announced as McCain’s VP pick1. Ready? Here we go:
Never having voted in an election bigger than club treasurer, I turn to my more mature and responsible friends to ask: has a candidate’s Vice President [...]

and so you’d better do what you are told; you better listen to the radio

Hey, friends: recommend me some of the following:
Podcasts. Anything entertaining or informative.
Books. Scope out my progress on my 50 books in a year for an idea of where my tastes lie. But I’ll try a pretty wide range of genres.
Television series available on DVD. I don’t need cable now that I [...]