Walk the Line: I saw the movie Walk the Line Friday night and while it’s no Coal Miner’s Daughter, it’s one of the better “Nashville” movies I’ve seen and one of the better bio-pics, in general. While I doubt he’ll win, Joaquin Phoenix should get an Oscar nomination for his Johnny Cash role. (If Jamie Foxx had not won for Ray last year, I think Phoenix’ chances would be better. Oddly, there are many things about Walk the Line and Ray that run parallel.) That Reese Witherspoon is from Nashville (her home and high school are both less than a mile from where I saw the movie) adds to the hometown tie-in.
Other Nashville movie tidbits: Joaquin Phoenix’ brother, River, starred in a not-that-great movie filmed in Nashville, The Thing Called Love, shortly before he died. Also this list of films with Nashville-related locations reveals a bit of trivia I’ve never heard (and still can’t believe): some exterior scenes of the Matrix were shot here, including the skyline in the opening Trinity rooftop chase.
It’s also the way Barbara Walters pronounces my name: Wex is a “collaboratively built, freely available legal dictionary and encyclopedia” from Cornell Law School.
I know that definition sounds like a “wiki” and the platform on which Wex is running quacks and waddles like a wiki, however, apparently they are reluctant to call it a wiki because they’re not letting just anyone collaborate on it: You actually have to know what you’re writing about. I have no problem with that: If there is a collaboratively built brain surgery “dictionary and encyclopedia” out there somewhere, I’d be happy to learn they limit the contributors to brain surgeons and other qualified authorities on the topic.
Interesting question on the Wex FAQ, however:
Why not just contribute law material to Wikipedia?
Excellent question. In time, we may offer our material to Wikipedia, or otherwise merge our efforts with theirs. In the short term, we want to retain more control over what appears here. Once we have a better idea of what stresses and strains are involved in running such a system, we may consider moving.
(via: ResourceShelf)
Technorati Tags: wiki
White House Chief of Staff drops by Nashville earlier today: Fortunately, it was an uneventful visit.
Via AP:
A small, twin-engine plane carrying White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card made an emergency landing in Nashville Saturday after smoke began pouring into the cockpit, officials said. Card and 12 others on board were not injured when the Gulfstream 4 plane bound for Washington landed at the Nashville International Airport around 4 p.m., said Lynne Lowrance, an airport spokeswoman.
Technorati Tags: nashville
Dreaded annual tradition: Every year it’s the same, taking a photo to include in Christmas cards turns into a traumatic, psyche-scarring event. When the kids get older, you’d think it gets easier, but some traditions never die. Like the dozens of rejected photos necessary to get a keeper.
This year, I decided to share a Flickr set of Christmas photo rejects. (And since there’s a photo of my dog, Feste, included with this post, I decided to use the “puppy” tag.)
Update: I’ve clicked a wrong button on Flickr and deleted the set. (I thought it was displaying the set twice and thought I was deleting just one of the sets.) I’ll add it back later.
This link takes you to a slide show of the set.
Technorati Tags: puppy
Conspicuous consumption: The Wall Street Journal Online has a free feature running through the end of the year called the “Holiday-Sales News Tracker.” It will be “updated regularly with the latest holiday-sales figures, how individual retailers are doing and other developments.”
I’m all for stoking up the economy, people. Hooray for capitalism, and all. But something about this feature makes me think holiday-sales tracking would make baby Jesus sick.
Update: Speaking of things that would make baby Jesus sick. And here (via: Rogers Cadenhead) is yet another one.
Josh’s top drawer: Heck, Josh Hallett sure knows how to make a blogger-friend blush. (However, it’s a compliment only a blogger-geek would appreciate.) I have a similar folder in my NetNewsWire called “My A-list” (and hyku | blog has been on it a long time). Thanks.
Dilbert-iki: Scott Adams, the Dilbert cartoonist, has gone from blogging newbie to superstar in a month. Today he asked for help from his blog’s readers in writing one line of Dilbert dialog and within an hour, he declares a winner.
Quote:
The winner is Randy, with his suggestion of “We’ll use web services employing XML, SOAP and WSDL to develop interoperable HTTP modules.” I changed it slightly to “Our web services emply XML, SOAP and WSDL to achieve interoperable HTTP modules.”
I hope that means something.
The comic will run on 2/4/06. (Yes, I do work ahead.)
Geez. If he’d included Ajax, Dilbert could be declared Web 2.0.
