2008 Prognostication: Post 2 of 12

And the Oscar goes to . . . No Country for Old Men. Katie and I saw this on Friday with Laura, and I was certainly impressed (though Katie and Laura absolutely hated it). I found myself pulling for it to win, even though I voted for Atonement like a naif. (I'm not going to believe Golden Globe results anymore.)

Seven people picked the best picture Oscar correctly: Ekrem, Matthew B., Jeff, Chris, Grant, Oraldo, and Megan. They join Liz and Missy with a score of 1 to everyone else's zero. No one has a score of two yet.

A few internecine rivalries are almost certainly forming amongst the leaders. The most rancorous will undoubtedly be Liz and Jeff, who live together and thus have ample opportunity to talk trash with each other now that Jeff has pulled even with Liz. But don't discount the heated battles likely arising amongst my wedding party (Missy and Ekrem), from Epsilon Theta, my MIT fraternity (Chris, Grant, and Ekrem), or from attendees of Eric's New Year Event, which inspired the quiz (Matthew B., Oraldo, and Megan).

Next up is the Pulizter Prize. Liz and Jeff have the same answer, so they will remain tied until the Stanley Cup, but the other grudge matches could get interesting. Check back in April!

Comments

Can You Cross Your Toes?

Katie and I had a heated discussion the night before last. We were sitting on the couch watching Jon Stewart when she noticed a large, apparently cancerous growth sticking out of the bottom of my foot. She asked what the big lump in my sock was. "That's my toe," I responded, nonplussed. I had crossed my first and second toes, causing a lump to protrude from the bottom of my sock. Katie was quite alarmed. "You can cross your toes?" "Sure, can't you? Everyone can cross their toes!" "Of course I can't cross my toes. Who can cross their toes?" And I confirmed that Katie could not, in fact, cross her toes. Even manipulating her toes with my fingers, I could not get her toes to stay crossed. She just has very short toes. That led, of course, into a discussion of who was the freak. Were my long, crossable toes abnormal, or were her stubby, uncrossable phalanges the outliers? In case you're confused, here are some pictures. First, of my v...

Leagalize drugs!

The Economist has a wonderful editorial this week about legalizing drugs. I wholeheartedly agree that the world will be better off by far if the United States legalized, taxed, and regulated illicit drugs such as cannabis, cocaine, and heroin. The goods that will come from legalization: 1. We will save the $40 billion the US spends trying to eliminate the supply of drugs. 2. We will save the costs involved in incarcerating so many drug offenders (as well as gain their productivity in society). 3. We will gain money through taxation on the legal drug trade. 4. Legalized drugs will be regulated, and thus purer and safer to take. 5. With all these savings, we will have lots of money to spend on treating drug addiction as a public health issue rather than as a law and order issue. We will have lots of money to fund treatment programs for addicts that are ensnared by the easier availability of drugs. 6. We will prevent tens of thousands of killings in countries that produce drugs when proc...

Max the Model

Katie sometimes talks to Max about all the things he can grow up to be. "Will you grow up to be a scientist like Daddy, or a lawyer like Mommy?" she will query. In recent days, though, we think Max might aspire to be a model. He LOVES the camera. Point it in his direction, and he is mesmerized by the big lens, giving it a big smile. He will sit for long series of photographs, changing his expressions constantly so we'll be sure to get a good one. This is Katie's recent favorite series (mostly because she thinks he looks so cute in the outfit): This is my favorite series, based purely on the dynamic range of emotions that Max is capable of. I am especially fond of the last picture. So cute!

J. Michael Andresen

Search This Blog