1) I watched August: Osage County last night. A fine film, with some spectacular performances, but as I watched (for, you know, awards voting purposes), I realized that Julia Roberts needs a new agent. How Meryl Streep is up for lead actress in a film where Julia Roberts is clearly the heroine is beyond my ken. The story is about Roberts, and while she gives perhaps the best performance I’ve seen on screen in a very long time by any actor, she’s considered a supporting player for the awards season purposes. Clearly, this was as an enticement to get Streep to appear.
2) By now, given the little backwater blog you’re currently reading, you know about the breaking news: practically the entire state of West Virginia is in a chemically-induced drought.
3) Chris Christie handled himself adequately yesterday in his news conference, but there are still some issues to be determined in the court of public opinion:
a) The one question a politician never wants to have hanging over his head is “What did he know and when did he know it?” Precisely the question at issue here for Christie.
b) Christie wondered how an atmosphere like that could exist that allowed people to lie to him. Unspoken was how could an atmosphere exist that made people think political payback that hurt citizens was a good thing. Christie denies being a bully but this is a clear instance of bullying, and Christie never addressed that.
c) Even worse, Christie bullied his way into the Fort Lee mayor’s office to insist he personally deliver an apology. Right note, wrong key.
4) This Target stores hack is even worse than we were told. Way worse.
5) But I thought private enterprise could handle things way better than the government?
6) I can sum up what a Super Bowl tourist needs to know about navigating in New York in two words: don’t rush. Take your time, and get out of my -- I mean, our—way. We have places to be and people to see. Don’t try to keep up with us, and don’t try to compete. We’ve spent lifetimes perfecting the efficient art of walking, driving, biking our streets. You’ll never survive.
7) Quietly slipped into Andrew Cuomo’s State of the State address for New York was an authorization for twenty hospitals to begin administering medical marijuana. This is in keeping with the Cuomo family tradition of toe-dipping off a diving board.
8) Well, Hell didn’t freeze over, but…
9) This man made an ass. Of himself.
10) If you’re going to do a smash-and-grab, a banana might be the least of the things you grab.
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