That's a top

I've been skeptical of people saying that we are in a real estate bubble. No more.

I have a new hope

Hopefully the DVD will include most of this, this, this, and this.

I have no idea. None

The people in charge are considered disloyal, traiterous, swine. Why aren't they accepted as legitimate?

Sounds familiar

Jay shares an excerpt on Italy circa 1900.

Double R

Russ Roberts tackles inequality in 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 parts.

ROTS

Saw Star Wars III last night (possible spoilers ahead). It had some major flaws, but also some great stuff. You'll be shocked to hear that the dialogue and acting were bad, though I think that there were some bright spots. Not many, but a handful. Lucas generally did a good job of tying up loose ends, though he also created a few new ones, and some of the tying up was, frankly, retarded. I think to really appreciate the movie, and the whole 6 together really, you have to realize that the Jedi are not a purely good group. Clearly the Sith are much worse, but in the Jedi council you have an insular, arrogant, unaccountable organization that believes that only they can be trusted. They've been in charge for a thousand years or so, and they've become corrupt and paranoid. Yoda's advice to Anakin is condescending, Mace is a hypocrit, and Obi-Wan is a fool (and we were the greater fools to follow him). The Jedi speak of bringing balance to the Force, but they seem to think this means eliminating the Dark side and elevating the Light side higher, an interesting view of balance. The Jedi are supposedly selfless (yeah right). Jealousy is not unheard of, though it is wrapped up in wise-sounding talk. And oh the lies they tell.
My overall take on the movie is 3 out of 5. There were two scenes in the movie that were absolutely crucial, Anakin deciding to join Palpatine, and the fight between Anakin and Obi-Wan. Nail those two scenes, and the rest is just details for geeks like me to obsess over. Mess them up, and the movie is irredeemable. Both were close to what they should have been, but neither knocked it out of the park.
For more on the Jedi-fascist stuff, David Brin had some great stuff back in '99, here, here, and here. I think his plot ideas (to make it all make sense) are ridiculous and would be far, far more convoluted than what is needed, but everything else he writes is interesting and compelling.

Darth Side of the Moon

Darth is feeling a bit tense, 'cause here comes the son. As good as the posts are, the about section is probably my favorite part.

Ok

Fiction in 100 words or less. With an interesting punishment for the authors if they cop out (via the BlogFather).

Just what was needed

A site to help out Lindsay Lohan (via Wilkinson).

The Oracle

of Omaha, and Mr. Munger, on a broad-range of investment-related topics. I don't 100% agree with him, but you could do a lot worse than to pattern yourself on Buffett.

Exactly

Card pithily on the Apple cult. I'm not an Apple-hater, but the aura about the company can be weird at times.

Phew

Apparently, Chappelle ain't crazy (via SGW).

Funny 'cause it's true

Third paragraph. Was my exact reaction to the previous two sentences. Though I think they're just teasing us a bit. Anyway, Sin City was a very interesting movie, like they say, it was visually stunning. Storylines were interesting. Dialogue was cheesy, but intentionally so, it fit the whole stylized motif. Some of the acting was bad, not surprisingly Brittany Murphy was bad, but Michael Madsen was pretty bad too. The other actors were generally good, though. Definitely very violent, though most of it was comicy enough that it shouldn't bother people, though some will bother anyone. The guest directorship of Tarentino concerned me at a little, not because it was him but rather because of the idea of a guest director, but I didn't know what scene it was until I read it later, it fit. It definitely could have used more of the poster girl. Too few scenes, too few scenes.

Hoowa

Or however it's spelled. Score one for the Consitution!

Ouch

I thought the Celtics loss in Game 7 of the first round was bad. Washington couldn't win either game against Miami when Shaq didn't play, the first was almost do-or-die, the second was completely a backs-against-the-wall, win-or-go-home, now-or-never game. And they were both in Washington. I know Wade is really good, but that's a bit embarassing.

Why the idiot box is for now geniuses

TV shows are becoming much more complicated then ever before. This is also true of movies and games, and probably other pop culture as well. I'd say not so much music, it seems to be simplifying, though I could be wrong. Anyway, complex plots and such stimulate our brains in ways that can be long-lasting. So, after spending much of today studying and procrastinating on my computer, I'm off to get smarter for a little while.

Explode or project

Exploring the cinematic flop that was Envy. I think you could say that (among other things) it suffered from an overly naturalistic view of art: this is something that people do, we've recreated it exactly, why don't you like it? The saying "it's funny 'cause it's true" doesn't imply that if true, then funny. Or interesting. I think this is coming off as very harsh on the movie, which isn't completely fair. It's not completely like what I wrote above, nor is it devoid of funny and interesting parts. It's not bad, just nothing special.

Dirty Bombs

As I've tried to tell people before, dirty bombs aren't a big deal.

Great

More books to add to my list. I wish I knew how to speedread.

It's deja vu all over again

Cold, War meet the War on Terror. War on Terror, meet the Cold War.

They're everywhere!

iPods are being sold in vending machines. Bizarre. (via MR)

Cough, hack, HACK

DeLong helps Krugman use a little bit of economic/statistical knowledge to mislead.

Why I can't take liberals seriously

There was a bill to ban "discrimination against gays in housing, employment and insurance" in Washington. Microsoft took no position on the bill after initially supporting it, partly because of a threatened boycott. This is called "shameful". Boycotts by the other side were threatened, so Microsoft supports the bill again. This is appluaded, though Atrios still feels the need to call them bigots. Isn't moving back to supporting the bill to be condemned as a shameful/cowardly flip-flop, as it was done for the same reason as the move away from supporting it? More to my point, though, how does anything in this story show that they're bigots? I vehemently oppose the bill, so by this reasoning I must hate homosexuals. Fuck you, Atrios.

Mountains

You don't have to be a flat tax supporter to see that (to quote Chevy Chase out of contect) this is crazy, this is crazy, this is crazy.

Stop

Just stop. No more playing games with our money. Please?

Wow

Got to hand it to the Celtics, they make it interesting. Pierce has a great game, then gets himself thrown out when he could have iced it at the line. Kendrick Perkins attempts the free throws for Paul, missing both, and we go to OT. Al Jefferson playing the game of his life. Antoine going back and forth between being a goat and being the hero. And they finally play well in crunch time to win a big game.
Also, I do want to say this, as dumb as what he did was, I'm not convinced it was a clear-cut technical foul-deserving action. Tinsley was all over him, and Paul pushes him away. You can't do that, the risk that the guy will flop (as Tinsley did), or the ref will think you took a swing at the guy, or whatever, is too great, especially at that point in the game, and when you already have a technical foul. I can't blame the refs for making the call that they did, so I guess I don't have much of a point, but I'm just saying it's a gray area as to what the right call was there.

What's the point?

Schelling is interviewed by Steelman (via Cafe Hayek).

Pretty Crappy

PC-ness infecting hard science (via Newmark).

History

A fairly short history of Chile's tyrant. Well, one of them.