Weekend Update

Happy President's Day/ Valentine's Day/ Mardi Gras/ NBA All-Star Game/ Winter Olympics/ Kalends of February!

Robyn and I spent this last weekend on a sort of min-vacation in Long Beach, seeing both friends and family. It was quite lovely, especially the part that was by the seaside and seventy-five degrees and sunny. Of course, I spent most of the weekend sitting on the back porch reading Stalingrad. And after a splendid 48 hours in Southern California, when we finally arrived back in Champaign, Illinois in a blizzard in ten-degree weather, I was able to say to myself, "Well, hell, at least I'm not in Stalingrad."

On a related note, Roger Ebert apparently does not like the new movie Saint John of Las Vegas starring Steve Buscemi and Sarah Silverman. I guess that's too bad, but what caught my eye was that the script was "based on the epic poem by Dante Alighieri." That's peculiar. Especially considering that we just had the release of the video game adaptation of Inferno. What does it all mean? Is it another manifestation of our chronic societal melancholy? Our we all convinced the country is literally going to Hell in a handbasket? Or is Dante merely this year's bacon? Only time will tell.

I think this is funny:




"I don't know what phallocentric means, but NO GIRLS!"
I also think this is funny:



Albeit funny for a different reason.