I enjoyed Mark Ames’ review of Matrix: Reloaded, even though he cut out after an hour to go watch the rape scene in Irreversible.

More O’Reilly Bashing, this time by Al Franken during CSPAN’s Book TV. Really funny. It’s odd to be rooting for the liberals here, but I’ve really grown to hate Bill. It’s this odd claim of his that he’s somehow an independent. There’s nothing independent about him. Yes, he’s against the death penalty. Yes, he occasionally offers criticism of the Christian right. But come on… independent? I wouldn’t go as far to label him “partisan,” but he’s clearly biased by his own political leanings. I’m glad that he’s willing to criticize the current administration, but so does Rush Limbaugh. That doesn’t make him “independent.” And Bill, you weren’t a chimney sweep, so enough with the “working class” angle.

update (via This Modern World): Here’s the transcript from O’Reilly’s radio show where he discussed the incident:

What this guy writes and says does not matter to me, other than, Mike, he insulted me in a forum where I was at a decided disadvantage*, you know, he went over his time limit. It was very, very sneaky, and you know, as I said at the top of the broadcast, somebody calls you a liar to your face, you don’t just laugh that off. That’s an insult. In the old west, that woulda got you shot. See in the old west, and I woulda loved to have been in the old west, Al and I woulda just had a little, uh, a little shootout. You know? We woulda went out, on Wilshire Avenue, and uh, six shooters, now he’s a much smaller target than I am, about four foot eleven, but he’s wider, and it woulda been you know, Clint Eastwood time. I woulda had the cheroot, the serape, woulda given my squint, and I woulda put a bullet right between his head. Woulda been wrong, woulda been wrong, but it was the old west, and I would not have known any better, so I wouldn’t have been held accountable because I would not have known any–now I do, now in 2003 that would have been wrong.

So if the conditions were right, Bill would actually kill someone with whom he disagreed? Jesus God, this guy is insane.

I May Be Dead By The End Of Today

“Today’s Worst: Eugene, OR” reads pollen.com’s national pollen report. And it’s only getting worse the rest of the week. Everybody knew Eugene was a terrible place, and here’s one more notch on its headboard, cause it fucked us again.

No. 2? Salem.

White Russians, Bowling and No Fucking Eagles

That’s right kids… it’s the second annual Lebowski Fest! And this year’s guest of honor is none other than Jeff Dowd, the Coen brothers’ inspiration for “The Dude.” Looks like he’s hawking a book of essays and observations about life, but whatever… If somebody can spot me a plane ticket I’m sooo there.

But let’s not forgot who started the Lebowski cult following to begin with.

A Mathematical Model of Bill O’Reilly

In the first mathematical analysis of Bill O’Reilly ever done, the Review has incontrovertibly proved what was previously believed only anecdotally: O’Reilly is a bully and a jerk.

The study examined O’Reilly’s interview [sic] with Jacob Sullum who has written an important new book on drugs, “Saying Yes: In Defense of Drug Use.” Using the advanced technology of Microsoft’s Word Count, the Review determined that Sullum only got in 35 more words than the interviewer, O’Reilly. O’Reilly got in the longest statements – 89 and 104 words – while Sullum in 35 exchanges only managed to say more than 50 words (a little less than a half minute) on three occasions. In 42.85% of the exchanges Sullum only managed to get in five words or less.

On Campus, In America

One can’t really involve one’s self in much study of the current ODE suicide coverage debacle without quickly hitting parallels to the New York Times problems. That is inevitable, it seems, since the editors of the Emerald and those in the Journalism school still abide the ridiculous notion that the Times sets the ethical, practical and social pace for American journalism. On the one hand the ODE callously deals in life and death as if it were covering a student senate hearing (which, for the record, they do poorly if at all).

So, the question becomes, will things get better? There is only the glimmer of hope for the ODE, where they hired a new editor for next year who may be less ideologically-driven. But the decay seen in that publication’s news structure suggests that it likely will be a while before one can really trust that they have covered a story fully, accurately and objectively.

Meanwhile, the NYT is likely to get worse before it gets better, according to NR editors, who write that the Times is flourishing in the business sense while crumbling journalistically.

Please stay tuned to the OC, where the ODE story will continue to be followed.