Email: An observation [EH]

You are absolutely right! Minnesotans are more stoic than Wisconsites actually. (It's the cold weather and the German and Scandinavian heritage.) Listen to Garrison Keillor in A Prairie Home Companion, he talks about shy people from Minnesota (and Prairie Home brand biscuits which "give shy people the courage to get up and do what needs to be done!").

Email: Free Blockbuster rentals for Netflix members [DB]

Blockbuster is offering free rentals to Netflix members through Dec. 21! One free Blockbuster in-store rental for every Netflix mail rental you show them. I’m taking advantage of this offer, however, they’ve messed up twice on the Harry Potter DVD my son selected: first a damaged disc, then the wrong disc (HP1 movie disc with the HP3 feature disc in the HP3 box). With Netflix, I’ve only had 2 damaged discs in more than a year.

Email: Netflix Support

Beauty and the Beast, Seasons 2-3

Email: Blockbuster's "no late fees" [MG]

Blockbuster doesn’t charge late fees anymore because if a movie is late, it is converted into a sale. In other words, you delay it, you buy it! If you still return it within 30 days, the sale may be refunded, less a $1.25 restocking fee -- which, while not the same thing as a late fee, is still a fee, isn’t it?

Media: Movies - Mel Gibson

OK so now we have, what, The Passion of the Mayan? What is it about Mel Gibson and the need for spouting great gouts of blood? Not shimmering alien slime, not the quivering stink of raw fear, but massive quantities of human blood. It sure seems to get him off, doesn't it?

If they can replace Peter Jackson with someone else for The Hobbit (2009), maybe they can replace Quentin Tarantino with Mel Gibson for Kill Bill 3 (The Prequel).

Neologisms: snurgy

Any odor or effluent that, when found to be making an incursion into one's facial orifices, causes one to attempt to reverse the process as rapidly, forcefully, and variedly as possible.

Musings: Rude odors

I have three stories of odors that were rude, unwelcome, or at least distinctly discernible as such. You decide which was which.

While attending Second Baptist for a year (an exercise in futility), I was wrestling one Sunday with yet another musical-meeting-room scheme when I happened upon the room that used to host my age group's Bible study. This one, however, now reeked of Bengay: It was the plus-50 crowd. "This is not my room!" I muttered and made a hasty exit. I'm not that mature yet!

While arriving at a pro-life banquet this year, I caught a whiff and murmured "I smell Republicans--!" Amazingly enough, I was able to eat a meal, remain in the same room as Tom DeLay delivered one of the final swan songs of his iron rule, and I did not throw up. Am I mature or what?

While approaching the Ocean Star oil rig museum in Galveston this week for a work-related tour, I whiffed the snurgy sea brine that is Galveston's and deliberately chose not to murmur this salty double-entendre: "Smells like seamen!"

Yeah, I just might be finally growing up.

Words: gallant [MW]

Function: adjective
Etymology: Middle English galaunt, from Middle French galant, from present participle of galer to have a good time, from Old French, from gale pleasure, of Germanic origin; akin to Old English wela weal -- more at WEAL
1 : showy in dress or bearing : SMART
2 a : SPLENDID, STATELY "a gallant ship" b : SPIRITED, BRAVE "gallant efforts against the enemy" c : nobly chivalrous and often self-sacrificing
3 : courteously and elaborately attentive especially to ladies

(Gallant is also probably related to Old English gleow, glee.)

Press: God's Inbox - TIME

(TIME magazine via The Unofficial Apple Weblog)

Internet: Andy Rooney and women over 40

For the umpteenth time, Andy Rooney did not write that sensitive essay on women over 40.

If I limited my circle of friends to those who took my advice and verified every sentimental or pseudofactual missive on snopes.com before redistributing it via email, I would have a much smaller circle of friends. I've received some of these snippets one or two dozen times or more over the past two dozen years.

Among the many hundreds of these rumored screeds that I have received in my nearly 2.5 decades on the Internet as a technology journalist, from antivirus and personal safety warnings to wisdom ascribed to one celebrity or another, only one has ever been true.

Email: Netflix Support

Title request: Iron Man (1996), Iron Man (1994)

Musings: Ranting versus leading

There's a fine line between ranting and being an opinion leader and I think it has to do with moderation.

Musings: Censorship versus moderation

Censorship is perceived as excessive external editing, moderation is perceived as appropriate internal editing (we all have to stop typing somewhere).

Email: Netflix Support

Title request: Yes, Dear (TV)

Press: Act One trains scriptwriters who value quality as deeply as Christian themes - HC

Act One trains scriptwriters who value quality as deeply as Christian themes | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle:

"After two years of 'reading hundreds and hundreds of horrible scripts' at a Catholic movie production company, Nicolosi concluded that Christian screenwriters were their own worst enemies.

'They had nothing but arrogance and ignorance, and self-righteousness to boot,' the outspoken Nicolosi said. 'They were screaming about how Hollywood was persecuting Christians. I realized Christians were not being martyred in Hollywood; they were committing suicide.

'We were being embarrassed by Christians who were writing works that were substandard and saying the Holy Spirit inspired them to do it.'"