And they're geeky about their elaborate horny perviness.

Via Jammies

New York Times columnists, pithily skewered.

We finally watched Tim's Vermeer tonight, and it's superhighlyrecommendedexpialidocious. A fine way to spend 80 minutes, and the impression from the early write-ups was correct: an intriguing detective story, and a fascinating protagonist with a quirky mind and phenomenal patience and dedication. Not, by any means, a balanced view: no dissenting voices are heard, but as a prima facie case that Vermeer used optics and probably also a contraption like what Tim invented, very strong, and lots of fun.

(As an aside, I just read Manohla Dargis's review of the movie, and I guess I assumed that, unlike book critics, movie critics actually see the movie they're reviewing (it only takes a couple of hours, after all), but her review really made me wonder.)

Clew writes: Gilbert & Sullivan's Mikado: too racist to perform? Actors acceptable, poster tacky? Opinions of 18th c. Japanese diplomats; relevant or not?

Heebie's take: Sure seems like a bad idea!

Is Heebie stranded in a ditch somewhere yet? Has she strangled her children? Have they strangled her? While we wait for news, allow me to try to fill the gap with this bit of old, outsourced trolling. The 100 Greatest Writers of All Time, which takes itself entirely seriously and includes gems like "maybe the most important Chicago Jew of all time" and "he fucked well and seriously" and perhaps my favorite, "It is now assumed that he was gay, but how, really, could a poet of his time not be."

This seems not quite kosher, but I'm no lawyer.

Jailhouse conversations have been many a defendant's downfall through incriminating words spoken to inmates or visitors, or in phone calls to friends or relatives. Inmates' calls to or from lawyers, however, are generally exempt from such monitoring. But across the country, federal prosecutors have begun reading prisoners' emails to lawyers -- a practice wholly embraced in Brooklyn, where prosecutors have said they intend to read such emails in almost every case.