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  <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:scottak</id>
  <title>The Snark-O-Gator says...</title>
  <subtitle>Snark goes the gator cause the gator goes snark</subtitle>
  <author>
    <name>Snark-O-Gator</name>
  </author>
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  <updated>2009-01-02T06:23:42Z</updated>
  <lj:journal userid="1112577" username="scottak" type="personal"/>
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  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:scottak:106878</id>
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    <title>Life and movies: the meme</title>
    <published>2009-01-02T06:12:51Z</published>
    <updated>2009-01-02T06:23:42Z</updated>
    <content type="html">SUPPOSEDLY if you've seen over 85 movies, you have no life. Mark the ones you've seen. There are 254 movies on this list. Put x's next to the movies you've seen and add it up.3 &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; (x) Rocky Horror Picture Show&lt;br /&gt;(x) Grease&lt;br /&gt;(x) Pirates of the Caribbean&lt;br /&gt;( ) Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest&lt;br /&gt;( ) Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World's End&lt;br /&gt;( ) Boondock Saints&lt;br /&gt;(x) Fight Club&lt;br /&gt;( ) Starsky and Hutch&lt;br /&gt;(\) Neverending Story &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I've seen parts of it on TV, hence the spare and not the strike.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;(\) Blazing Saddles&lt;br /&gt;(x) Airplane&lt;br /&gt;(x) The Princess Bride&lt;br /&gt;( ) AnchorMan&lt;br /&gt;(x) Napoleon Dynamite &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;And I'll never get that hour of my life back...&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;(x) Labyrinth&lt;br /&gt;( ) Saw&lt;br /&gt;( ) Saw II&lt;br /&gt;( ) White Noise&lt;br /&gt;( ) White Oleander&lt;br /&gt;( ) Anger Management&lt;br /&gt;( ) 50 First Dates&lt;br /&gt;(\?) The Princess Diaries &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I think I saw this on TV once.&amp;nbsp; I was bored, and the TV was on...&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;( ) The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement&lt;br /&gt;( ) Scream&lt;br /&gt;( ) Scream 2&lt;br /&gt;( ) Scream 3&lt;br /&gt;( ) Scary Movie&lt;br /&gt;( ) Scary Movie 2&lt;br /&gt;( ) Scary Movie 3&lt;br /&gt;( ) Scary Movie 4&lt;br /&gt;( ) American Pie&lt;br /&gt;( ) American Pie 2&lt;br /&gt;(x) American Wedding&lt;br /&gt;( ) American Pie Band Camp&lt;br /&gt;(x) Harry Potter 1&lt;br /&gt;(x) Harry Potter 2&lt;br /&gt;(x) Harry Potter 3&lt;br /&gt;(x) Harry Potter 4&lt;br /&gt;(x) Harry Potter 5&lt;br /&gt;(\) Resident Evil 1&lt;br /&gt;( ) Resident Evil 2&lt;br /&gt;(x) The Wedding Singer &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I'm a sucker for Drew Barrymore.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;( ) Little Black Book&lt;br /&gt;( ) The Village&lt;br /&gt;(x) Lilo &amp;amp; Stitch &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;and the second one, and the TV show, and part of the third movie...&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;(x) Finding Nemo&lt;br /&gt;( ) Finding Neverland&lt;br /&gt;( ) Signs&lt;br /&gt;( ) The Grinch&lt;br /&gt;( ) Texas Chainsaw Massacre&lt;br /&gt;( ) Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning&lt;br /&gt;( ) White Chicks&lt;br /&gt;( ) Butterfly Effect&lt;br /&gt;( ) 13 Going on 30&lt;br /&gt;(x) I, Robot &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Almost a decent movie, until the ending when the really unbelievable stuff happened.&amp;nbsp; I know it &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;was FICTION, but GEEZ!!!&lt;br /&gt;( ) Robots&lt;br /&gt;( ) Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story&lt;br /&gt;( ) Universal Soldier&lt;br /&gt;( ) Lemony Snicket: A Series Of Unfortunate Events&lt;br /&gt;( ) Along Came Polly&lt;br /&gt;(x) Deep Impact &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The only believable part of this movie was having Morgan Freeman as the president.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;( ) KingPin&lt;br /&gt;( ) Never Been Kissed&lt;br /&gt;( ) Meet The Parents&lt;br /&gt;( ) Meet the Fockers&lt;br /&gt;( ) Eight Crazy Nights&lt;br /&gt;( ) Joe Dirt&lt;br /&gt;(x) KING KONG &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Not the original one, not the one with Jack Black, but the one that was on TV in the 80's.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;( ) A Cinderella Story&lt;br /&gt;( ) The Terminal&lt;br /&gt;( ) The Lizzie McGuire Movie&lt;br /&gt;( ) Passport to Paris&lt;br /&gt;( ) Dumb &amp;amp; Dumber&lt;br /&gt;( ) Dumber &amp;amp; Dumberer&lt;br /&gt;( ) Final Destination&lt;br /&gt;( ) Final Destination 2 &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;You wouldn't think there'd be a sequel to a movie with the word 'FINAL' in the title.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;( ) Final Destination 3&lt;br /&gt;( ) Halloween&lt;br /&gt;( ) The Ring&lt;br /&gt;( ) The Ring 2&lt;br /&gt;( ) Surviving X-MAS&lt;br /&gt;(x) Flubber&lt;br /&gt;(x ) Harold &amp;amp; Kumar Go To White Castle &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Funniest movie ever.&amp;nbsp; Avoid the second one. So not funny, more &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;like disgusting.&lt;br /&gt;(x) Practical Magic&lt;br /&gt;(x) Chicago &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Several words come to mind when I think of this movie.&amp;nbsp; Boring is one, stupid is another.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;( ) Ghost Ship&lt;br /&gt;( ) From Hell&lt;br /&gt;(x) Hellboy &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;One of the better comic book adaptations.&amp;nbsp; Excellent.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;( ) Secret Window&lt;br /&gt;( ) I Am Sam&lt;br /&gt;( ) The Whole Nine Yards&lt;br /&gt;( ) The Whole Ten Yards&lt;br /&gt;( ) The Day After Tomorrow&lt;br /&gt;( ) Child's Play&lt;br /&gt;( ) Seed of Chucky&lt;br /&gt;( ) Bride of Chucky&lt;br /&gt;( ) Ten Things I Hate About You&lt;br /&gt;( ) Just Married&lt;br /&gt;( ) Gothika&lt;br /&gt;( ) Nightmare on Elm Street&lt;br /&gt;( ) Sixteen Candles&lt;br /&gt;( ) The Breakfast Club&lt;br /&gt;( ) Remember the Titans&lt;br /&gt;( ) Coach Carter&lt;br /&gt;( ) The Grudge&lt;br /&gt;( ) The Grudge 2&lt;br /&gt;( ) The Mask&lt;br /&gt;( ) Son Of The Mask&lt;br /&gt;( ) Bad Boys&lt;br /&gt;( ) Bad Boys 2&lt;br /&gt;( ) Joy Ride&lt;br /&gt;( ) Lucky Number Sleven&lt;br /&gt;(x) Ocean's Eleven&lt;br /&gt;( ) Ocean's Twelve&lt;br /&gt;(x) Bourne Identity &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;They so mangled this story.&amp;nbsp; The book was excellent.&amp;nbsp; The movie?&amp;nbsp; CRAP.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;( ) Bourne Supremecy&lt;br /&gt;( ) Bourne Ultimatum&lt;br /&gt;( ) Lone Star&lt;br /&gt;( ) Bedazzled&lt;br /&gt;(x) Predator I&lt;br /&gt;(x) Predator II&lt;br /&gt;( ) The Fog&lt;br /&gt;(x) Ice Age&lt;br /&gt;( ) Ice Age 2: The Meltdown&lt;br /&gt;( ) Curious George&lt;br /&gt;(x) Independence Day&lt;br /&gt;( ) Cujo&lt;br /&gt;( ) A Bronx Tale&lt;br /&gt;( ) Darkness Falls&lt;br /&gt;( ) Christine&lt;br /&gt;(x) ET&lt;br /&gt;( ) Children of the Corn&lt;br /&gt;( ) My Boss's Daughter&lt;br /&gt;( ) Maid in Manhattan&lt;br /&gt;(x) War of the Worlds &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The original.&amp;nbsp; I don't watch movies with scientologists in them...&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;(x) Rush Hour&lt;br /&gt;(x) Rush Hour 2&lt;br /&gt;(x) Rush Hour 3&lt;br /&gt;( ) Best Bet&lt;br /&gt;( ) How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days&lt;br /&gt;( ) She's All That&lt;br /&gt;( ) Calendar Girls&lt;br /&gt;( ) Sideways&lt;br /&gt;(X) Mars Attacks &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Mack mack! Mack mack mack mack!!!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;(x) Event Horizon &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Creepy creepy creepy fucking movie.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;(x) Ever After&lt;br /&gt;(x) Wizard of Oz&lt;br /&gt;(x) Forrest Gump &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What was the great big fuss about with this movie?&amp;nbsp; If I wanted to spend time seeing people make fun of a retarded guy I go back to high school.&amp;nbsp; And I won't get those 2 hours back either...&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;(x) Big Trouble in Little China&lt;br /&gt;(x) The Terminator&lt;br /&gt;(x) The Terminator 2&lt;br /&gt;(\) The Terminator 3&lt;br /&gt;(x) X-Men &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Could have been better.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;(x) X2 &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Existed solely so they could make a third movie.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;(x) X-3 &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Totally sucked.&amp;nbsp; Glad I didn't waste money on it.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;(x) Spider-Man &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lame.&amp;nbsp; Marvel killed any affection I had for Spidey by letting them make a movie...&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;( ) Spider-Man 2&lt;br /&gt;( ) Sky High&lt;br /&gt;( ) Jeepers Creepers&lt;br /&gt;( ) Jeepers Creepers 2&lt;br /&gt;(x) Catch Me If You Can &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Good movie.&amp;nbsp; I normally despise Lenny, but this was good.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;(x) The Little Mermaid&lt;br /&gt;(x) Freaky Friday&lt;br /&gt;(x) Reign of Fire &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What's not to like about this one.&amp;nbsp; Matthew McConawhatsit, Christian Bale, Dragons and lot's of things that go BOOM!!!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;( ) The Skulls&lt;br /&gt;( ) Cruel Intentions&lt;br /&gt;( ) Cruel Intentions 2&lt;br /&gt;( ) The Hot Chick&lt;br /&gt;( ) Shrek&lt;br /&gt;( ) Shrek 2&lt;br /&gt;( ) Swimfan&lt;br /&gt;(x) Miracle on 34th street&lt;br /&gt;( ) Old School&lt;br /&gt;( ) The Notebook&lt;br /&gt;( ) K-Pax&lt;br /&gt;( ) Krippendorf's Tribe&lt;br /&gt;( ) A Walk to Remember&lt;br /&gt;( ) Ice Castles&lt;br /&gt;( ) Boogeyman&lt;br /&gt;( ) The 40-year-old-virgin&lt;br /&gt;(x) Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Didn't suck nearly as bad as the book.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;(x) Lord of the Rings The Two Towers &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;For a movie with swords and monsters there was nowhere near enough swords being stuck IN monsters.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;( ) Lord of the Rings Return Of the King&lt;br /&gt;(x) Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark&lt;br /&gt;(x) Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom&lt;br /&gt;(x) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade&lt;br /&gt;(x) Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What a waste of fucking time. Inca, Conquistadors and WTF!?! Aliens??!!?!?!?!?!?!?!?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;( ) Baseketball&lt;br /&gt;( ) Hostel&lt;br /&gt;( ) Waiting for Guffman&lt;br /&gt;( ) House of 1000 Corpses&lt;br /&gt;( ) Devils Rejects&lt;br /&gt;( ) Elf&lt;br /&gt;(x) Highlander&lt;br /&gt;( ) Mothman Prophecies&lt;br /&gt;(x) American History X&lt;br /&gt;( ) Three&lt;br /&gt;(x) The Jacket&lt;br /&gt;(x) Kung Fu Hustle &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Not as good as Shao Lin Socker, but good...&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;(x) Shaolin Soccer&lt;br /&gt;( ) Night Watch&lt;br /&gt;(x) Monsters Inc.&lt;br /&gt;(x) Titanic &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It was OK...&amp;nbsp; But did we need to wait THREE FUCKING HOURS to see Kate Winslet naked???&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;(x) Monty Python and the Holy Grail&lt;br /&gt;(x) Shaun Of the Dead&lt;br /&gt;( ) Willard&lt;br /&gt;( ) High Tension&lt;br /&gt;( ) Club Dread&lt;br /&gt;( ) Hulk&lt;br /&gt;(x) Dawn Of the Dead&lt;br /&gt;(x) Hook&lt;br /&gt;( ) Chronicle Of Narnia The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe&lt;br /&gt;(x) 28 days later&lt;br /&gt;(x) Orgazmo&lt;br /&gt;( ) Phantasm&lt;br /&gt;( ) Waterworld&lt;br /&gt;( ) Kill Bill vol 1&lt;br /&gt;( ) Kill Bill vol 2&lt;br /&gt;( ) Mortal Kombat&lt;br /&gt;( ) Wolf Creek&lt;br /&gt;( ) Kingdom of Heaven&lt;br /&gt;( ) The Hills Have Eyes&lt;br /&gt;( ) I Spit on Your Grave aka the Day of the Woman&lt;br /&gt;( ) The Last House on the Left&lt;br /&gt;( ) Re-Animator&lt;br /&gt;(x) Army of Darkness &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&amp;quot;I'll rip out your soul!&amp;quot; &amp;quot;Come get a piece.&amp;quot;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;(x) Star Wars Ep. I The Phantom Menace&lt;br /&gt;(x) Star Wars Ep. II Attack of the Clones&lt;br /&gt;(x) Star Wars Ep. III Revenge of the Sith&lt;br /&gt;(x) Star Wars Ep. IV A New Hope&lt;br /&gt;(x) Star Wars Ep. V The Empire Strikes Back&lt;br /&gt;(x) Star Wars Ep. VI Return of the Jedi&lt;br /&gt;( ) Ewoks Caravan Of Courage&lt;br /&gt;( ) Ewoks The Battle For Endor&lt;br /&gt;(x) The Matrix&lt;br /&gt;(x) The Matrix Reloaded &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;This was crap.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;(x) The Matrix Revolutions &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If the second one was crap, this was utter shit.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;(x) Animatrix&lt;br /&gt;( ) Evil Dead&lt;br /&gt;( ) Evil Dead 2&lt;br /&gt;(x) Team America: World Police&lt;br /&gt;(x) Red Dragon &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Not the most recent one, but the one made in the '80s by &amp;quot;Miami Vice&amp;quot; producer Michael Mann&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;(x) Silence of the Lambs&lt;br /&gt;( ) Hannibal &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The book was total crap.&amp;nbsp; Why would I see the movie???&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;a name='cutid2-end'&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a name='cutid2-end'&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Total: 90&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I have a life, I just have movies in it... Big freakin' deal...&lt;br /&gt;</content>
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  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:scottak:106701</id>
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    <title>Stupid</title>
    <published>2008-11-11T02:38:46Z</published>
    <updated>2008-11-11T02:38:46Z</updated>
    <content type="html">Thought for today: You can't fix stupid.  However, you can take stupid out behind the woodshed and beat him with a tire iron.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Brought to you by the letters D, U, M and B.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;or...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"Remember kids, dumb spelled backwards is mud."</content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:scottak:106266</id>
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    <title>Why Kevin Smith is the Man...</title>
    <published>2008-10-30T15:19:15Z</published>
    <updated>2008-10-30T15:19:15Z</updated>
    <content type="html">Once again, Kevin Smith reminds all of us why he rocks and we don't.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/Movies/10/30/kevin.smith/index.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"&gt;Kevin Smith interview on CNN about "Zack and Miri Make a Porno"&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I know I'll go see the movie solely for the opportunity to see Jason Mewes in a sex scene.</content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:scottak:105996</id>
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    <title>zudacomics.com / High Moon...</title>
    <published>2008-10-21T20:08:42Z</published>
    <updated>2008-10-21T20:08:42Z</updated>
    <content type="html">Been meaning to post this for a while.  Actually, I've been meaning to post ANYTHING for a while...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;After seeing the ads for DC Comics online web comic site &lt;a href="http://zudacomics.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"&gt;zudacomics.com&lt;/a&gt; in various comics, I finally followed through and checked out their lineup.  I like Zuda's concept, which is to every month run a contest of new submissions with the winner getting a contract to create comics for the site.  All entries are judged by users, with the highest rated comic being the winner.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Zuda's flash based display for the comics is slick, allowing you to display each page in full screen, with no ads or other page elements to get between you and the comic.  This to me is THE BEST feature of the whole site.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The best comic I've found on Zuda, and with the exception of &lt;a href="http://girlgeniusonline.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"&gt;Girl Genius&lt;/a&gt; the best I've seen on the internet, is &lt;a href="http://zudacomics.com/high_moon" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"&gt;High Moon&lt;/a&gt;.  It's a gritty western meets werewolf story, with excellent artwork and layout.  Think High Plains Drifter with fur and fangs.  With new updates every Tuesday, High Moon has become one of my new must reads.  I highly recommend it.</content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:scottak:105966</id>
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    <title>Happy anniversary to me</title>
    <published>2008-08-01T01:40:56Z</published>
    <updated>2008-08-01T01:40:56Z</updated>
    <content type="html">In celebration of my 5 years with BCC, my employer sent me a catalog of gifts to choose from, like jewelry, googaws, doohickies and whatsits. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I was more stoked by the fact that they sent me a set of ring sizers so I could figure out what size to choose.</content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:scottak:105651</id>
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    <title>Posted using TxtLJ</title>
    <published>2008-07-11T16:27:29Z</published>
    <updated>2008-07-11T16:27:29Z</updated>
    <content type="html">Ah crap! The electricity just went out. There goes the day of productive activity I had planned...</content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:scottak:105242</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://scottak.livejournal.com/105242.html"/>
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    <title>Big Read...</title>
    <published>2008-07-05T23:15:08Z</published>
    <updated>2008-07-05T23:17:15Z</updated>
    <content type="html">The Big Read reckons that the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books they’ve printed.&lt;br /&gt;1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.&lt;br /&gt;2) Italicize those you started but did not finish.&lt;br /&gt;3) Underline the books you LOVE.&lt;br /&gt;4) Reprint this list in your own blog so we can try and track down these people who’ve read 6 and force books upon them.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;1. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;2. The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien&lt;/b&gt; - Oooh, the Gump Correlary strikes again!&amp;nbsp; So many people over the years told me that I just HAD to read these books.&amp;nbsp; I hated it.&amp;nbsp; I kept waiting for the story to start, and by the time it did the book was over.&amp;nbsp; I'd like these few hours of my life back, please.&lt;br /&gt;3. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;4. Harry Potter series - JK Rowling&lt;/b&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;5. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;b&gt;6. The Bible&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/i&gt; - I skipped ahead to the end to see how it all ended.&amp;nbsp; EVERYONE dies.&lt;br /&gt;
7. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte&lt;br /&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;b&gt;8. Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;b&gt;9. His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman&amp;nbsp; &lt;/b&gt;&lt;/u&gt;- Still haven't seen the movie...&lt;br /&gt;10. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens&lt;br /&gt;11. Little Women - Louisa M Alcott&lt;br /&gt;12. Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy&lt;br /&gt;13. Catch 22 - Joseph Heller - This one is on the shelf, waiting to be read.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;b&gt;14. Complete Works of Shakespeare&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/u&gt; - Not all of them, but many of them.&lt;br /&gt;15. Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier&lt;br /&gt;16. The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien&lt;br /&gt;17. Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks&lt;br /&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;b&gt;18. Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;br /&gt;19. The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger&lt;br /&gt;20. Middlemarch - George Eliot&lt;br /&gt;21. Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell&lt;br /&gt;22. The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald&lt;br /&gt;23. Bleak House - Charles Dickens&lt;br /&gt;24. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy&lt;br /&gt;25. The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams&lt;br /&gt;26. Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh&lt;br /&gt;27. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;28. Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;29. Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;30. The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame&lt;br /&gt;31. Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy&lt;br /&gt;32. David Copperfield - Charles Dickens&lt;br /&gt;33. Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis&lt;br /&gt;34. Emma - Jane Austen&lt;br /&gt;35. Persuasion - Jane Austen&lt;br /&gt;36. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis&lt;br /&gt;37. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini&lt;br /&gt;38. Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres&lt;br /&gt;39. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;40. Winnie the Pooh -A.A. Milne&lt;br /&gt;41. Animal Farm - George Orwell&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;42. The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown&lt;br /&gt;43. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez&lt;br /&gt;44. A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving&lt;br /&gt;45. The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins&lt;br /&gt;46. Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery&lt;br /&gt;47. Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy&lt;br /&gt;48. The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;49. Lord of the Flies - William Golding&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;50. Atonement - Ian McEwan&lt;br /&gt;51. Life of Pi - Yann Martel&lt;br /&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;b&gt;52. Dune - Frank Herbert&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/u&gt; - Read it, read it again, I'll read it again once I find my copy back...&lt;br /&gt;53. Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons&lt;br /&gt;54. Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen&lt;br /&gt;55. A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth&lt;br /&gt;56. The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon&lt;br /&gt;57. A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens&lt;br /&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;b&gt;58. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;br /&gt;59. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon&lt;br /&gt;60. Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;61. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;62. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov&lt;br /&gt;63. The Secret History - Donna Tartt&lt;br /&gt;64. The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold&lt;br /&gt;65. Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas&lt;br /&gt;66. On The Road - Jack Kerouac&lt;br /&gt;67. Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy&lt;br /&gt;68. Bridget Jones' Diary - Helen Fielding&lt;br /&gt;69. Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie&lt;br /&gt;70. Moby Dick - Herman Melville&lt;br /&gt;71. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;72. Dracula - Bram Stoker&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;73.The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett&lt;br /&gt;74. Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson&lt;br /&gt;75. Ulysses - James Joyce&lt;br /&gt;76. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath - This one is on a shelf somewhere as well...&lt;br /&gt;77. Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome&lt;br /&gt;78. Germinal - Emile Zola&lt;br /&gt;79. Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray&lt;br /&gt;80. Possession - AS Byatt&lt;br /&gt;81. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens&lt;br /&gt;82. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell&lt;br /&gt;83. The Color Purple - Alice Walker&lt;br /&gt;84. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro&lt;br /&gt;85. Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert&lt;br /&gt;86. A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;87. Charlotte's Web - EB White&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;88. The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom&lt;br /&gt;89. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle&lt;br /&gt;90. The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton&lt;br /&gt;91. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad&lt;br /&gt;92. The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery (in the French)&lt;br /&gt;93. The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks&lt;br /&gt;94. Watership Down - Richard Adams&lt;br /&gt;95. A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole&lt;br /&gt;96. A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute&lt;br /&gt;97. The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas&lt;br /&gt;98. Hamlet - William Shakespeare - Wouldn't this be included in #14???&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;99. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;100. Les Miserables - Victor Hugo&lt;a name='cutid1-end'&gt;&lt;/a&gt;</content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:scottak:105031</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://scottak.livejournal.com/105031.html"/>
    <link rel="self" type="text/xml" href="https://scottak.livejournal.com/data/atom/?itemid=105031"/>
    <title>Posted using TxtLJ</title>
    <published>2008-07-02T10:38:11Z</published>
    <updated>2008-07-02T10:38:11Z</updated>
    <content type="html">This just in! Barack Obama has embraced the 'militant homosexual agenda'. &lt;br /&gt;This is bad?</content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:scottak:104723</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://scottak.livejournal.com/104723.html"/>
    <link rel="self" type="text/xml" href="https://scottak.livejournal.com/data/atom/?itemid=104723"/>
    <title>Posted using TxtLJ</title>
    <published>2008-06-24T19:24:03Z</published>
    <updated>2008-06-24T19:24:03Z</updated>
    <content type="html">If'n I had me a calendar, I'd take me a big marker and write in big letters 'SUCKED' in the box for today.</content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:scottak:104649</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://scottak.livejournal.com/104649.html"/>
    <link rel="self" type="text/xml" href="https://scottak.livejournal.com/data/atom/?itemid=104649"/>
    <title>On the Teevee</title>
    <published>2008-06-22T15:36:02Z</published>
    <updated>2008-06-22T15:36:02Z</updated>
    <content type="html">Battlestar Galactica - Now that we've hit the mid-season finale, I'm left with an overwhelming sense of WTF?!?!?!?!  But what did I expect?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Dr. Who - Best episode ever!!!  Of course, we're nearing the end of the season so OF COURSE we have to have the really dramatic end of the world episodes.  Next weeks looks great, with everyone who's ever hitched a ride with the doctor showing up.  Can't wait...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;the Venture Brothers - Just finally started watching this show, even though it's been recommended to me several times.  A cartoon about super genius scientists and arch-villians?  How could I not like this?!?  Now I just need to see the first two episodes.</content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:scottak:104326</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://scottak.livejournal.com/104326.html"/>
    <link rel="self" type="text/xml" href="https://scottak.livejournal.com/data/atom/?itemid=104326"/>
    <title>Posted using TxtLJ</title>
    <published>2008-06-14T19:57:51Z</published>
    <updated>2008-06-14T19:57:51Z</updated>
    <content type="html">I setup a profile on Facebook today so I could lookup old girlfriends. I am so very lame...</content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:scottak:104036</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://scottak.livejournal.com/104036.html"/>
    <link rel="self" type="text/xml" href="https://scottak.livejournal.com/data/atom/?itemid=104036"/>
    <title>Posted using TxtLJ</title>
    <published>2008-06-13T20:39:36Z</published>
    <updated>2008-06-13T20:39:36Z</updated>
    <content type="html">However, if I had stayed in bed I never would have met this very nice fried ice cream that is trying very hard to cheer me up.</content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:scottak:103843</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://scottak.livejournal.com/103843.html"/>
    <link rel="self" type="text/xml" href="https://scottak.livejournal.com/data/atom/?itemid=103843"/>
    <title>Posted using TxtLJ</title>
    <published>2008-06-13T20:36:15Z</published>
    <updated>2008-06-13T20:36:15Z</updated>
    <content type="html">In general, I'm not superstitious. However, today was definitely Friday the 13th. I should have just stayed in bed...</content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:scottak:103515</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://scottak.livejournal.com/103515.html"/>
    <link rel="self" type="text/xml" href="https://scottak.livejournal.com/data/atom/?itemid=103515"/>
    <title>WANT!!!</title>
    <published>2008-06-05T03:05:24Z</published>
    <updated>2008-06-05T03:05:24Z</updated>
    <content type="html">&lt;a href="http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&amp;amp;item=320259668084" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"&gt;I so want this&lt;/a&gt;</content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:scottak:103197</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://scottak.livejournal.com/103197.html"/>
    <link rel="self" type="text/xml" href="https://scottak.livejournal.com/data/atom/?itemid=103197"/>
    <title>OMGWTFPETA?!?!?!?!?!?!</title>
    <published>2008-06-02T18:54:35Z</published>
    <updated>2008-06-02T18:54:35Z</updated>
    <content type="html">Apparently, PETA stands for "People for the Erotic Treatment of Animals".  It's a real ad, made by PETA, that TV stations won't touch.  I wonder why.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Don't watch this at work, with your kids, or while eating.  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;lj-embed id="6" /&gt;</content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:scottak:102966</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://scottak.livejournal.com/102966.html"/>
    <link rel="self" type="text/xml" href="https://scottak.livejournal.com/data/atom/?itemid=102966"/>
    <title>Posted using TxtLJ</title>
    <published>2008-06-02T12:24:08Z</published>
    <updated>2008-06-02T12:24:08Z</updated>
    <content type="html">Once again I scored the bonus bacon from the cafeteria. My breakfast, it is full of win.</content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:scottak:102848</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://scottak.livejournal.com/102848.html"/>
    <link rel="self" type="text/xml" href="https://scottak.livejournal.com/data/atom/?itemid=102848"/>
    <title>Posted using TxtLJ</title>
    <published>2008-06-01T21:59:49Z</published>
    <updated>2008-06-01T21:59:49Z</updated>
    <content type="html">Indy: on a scale of 'WTF?!?' to 'OMGSQUEE!!!1!' this movie was a 'meh'.</content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:scottak:102472</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://scottak.livejournal.com/102472.html"/>
    <link rel="self" type="text/xml" href="https://scottak.livejournal.com/data/atom/?itemid=102472"/>
    <title>Smartest cat in the world</title>
    <published>2008-05-17T03:59:54Z</published>
    <updated>2008-05-17T03:59:54Z</updated>
    <content type="html">Apparently my cat has learned how to communicate with humans.  Unfortunately, she only speaks pun.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I went to clean out the litter box and found that she wanted to tell me that it was stinky by digging my P-Funk tshirt out of the dirty laundry and tossing it inside.  Get it?  Pee funk?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;P-Funk.  No shit.  Well, a little shit.  It is a litter box.</content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:scottak:102282</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://scottak.livejournal.com/102282.html"/>
    <link rel="self" type="text/xml" href="https://scottak.livejournal.com/data/atom/?itemid=102282"/>
    <title>Hahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!</title>
    <published>2008-05-01T17:09:06Z</published>
    <updated>2008-05-01T17:09:06Z</updated>
    <content type="html">&lt;a target='_blank' href='http://graphjam.com/2008/04/23/song-chart-memes-use-a-dictionary-please/' rel='nofollow'&gt;http://graphjam.com/2008/04/23/song-chart-memes-use-a-dictionary-please/&lt;/a&gt;</content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:scottak:101999</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://scottak.livejournal.com/101999.html"/>
    <link rel="self" type="text/xml" href="https://scottak.livejournal.com/data/atom/?itemid=101999"/>
    <title>Posted using TxtLJ</title>
    <published>2008-04-08T11:23:57Z</published>
    <updated>2008-04-08T11:23:57Z</updated>
    <content type="html">Drat! Locked out of my own place of employment. Whatever shall i do?!?</content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:scottak:101722</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://scottak.livejournal.com/101722.html"/>
    <link rel="self" type="text/xml" href="https://scottak.livejournal.com/data/atom/?itemid=101722"/>
    <title>Posted using TxtLJ</title>
    <published>2008-04-02T09:46:21Z</published>
    <updated>2008-04-02T09:46:21Z</updated>
    <content type="html">I love my Dr. I'm the only patient who takes the drugs I take, so she gives me all of her samples when I see her. Six months of drugs free!</content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:scottak:101452</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://scottak.livejournal.com/101452.html"/>
    <link rel="self" type="text/xml" href="https://scottak.livejournal.com/data/atom/?itemid=101452"/>
    <title>Dirty minds...</title>
    <published>2008-03-26T01:32:55Z</published>
    <updated>2008-03-26T01:32:55Z</updated>
    <content type="html">On the way home today, the ATT van in front of me had a sticker that read "WWW.ATT.JOBS".  I had completely forgotten that they had opened up that whole range of domains, and immediately began wondering if anyone had snatched up the really good ".jobs" domains.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Come on, I know you are thinking of them.  You probably just thought up three.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The obvious one is an empty placeholder page.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The next one I thought of is taken, and I really wonder if they were thinking when they reserved the addy.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;You can click this, it's work safe. &lt;a href="http://www.rim.jobs" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"&gt;www.rim.jobs&lt;/a&gt;</content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:scottak:101344</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://scottak.livejournal.com/101344.html"/>
    <link rel="self" type="text/xml" href="https://scottak.livejournal.com/data/atom/?itemid=101344"/>
    <title>Posted using TxtLJ</title>
    <published>2008-03-24T18:35:14Z</published>
    <updated>2008-03-24T18:35:14Z</updated>
    <content type="html">I'm not even supposed to be here today.</content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:scottak:101091</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://scottak.livejournal.com/101091.html"/>
    <link rel="self" type="text/xml" href="https://scottak.livejournal.com/data/atom/?itemid=101091"/>
    <title>the Cult of Ignorance</title>
    <published>2008-03-24T13:31:09Z</published>
    <updated>2008-03-24T13:31:09Z</updated>
    <content type="html">Excellent column from Kevin Horrigan in the Post Dispatch today about the rise of stupidity in America.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Text is behind the cut, the article can be found &lt;a href="http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/columnists.nsf/kevinhorrigan/story/48C97E273FFD238986257415005035E5?OpenDocument" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Early on in Robert Harris' new novel, "The Ghost," a literary editor says to an &lt;br /&gt;author who ghost-writes celebrity memoirs, "Tell me. When did it become &lt;br /&gt;fashionable to be stupid? That's the thing I don't understand. The cult of the &lt;br /&gt;idiot. The elevation of the moron."&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I worried about this question last week as I listened to Sen. Barack Obama's &lt;br /&gt;speech on race. I wondered, is America going to get this? Isn't this speech way &lt;br /&gt;too carefully constructed and nuanced? Shouldn't he have explained what he &lt;br /&gt;meant by "Jim Crow"? Shouldn't he have explained who William Faulkner was?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;What's he doing giving this speech at 10 o'clock on a Tuesday morning? Doesn't &lt;br /&gt;he know about prime time? Why did he write this speech himself? Doesn't he have &lt;br /&gt;speechwriters and focus groups who can test this stuff? Shouldn't he be &lt;br /&gt;shouting and waving his arms instead of standing coolly behind a lectern and &lt;br /&gt;talking in measured cadence? Why isn't he pandering?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In what surely ranks as, among other things, one the boldest political gambles &lt;br /&gt;in modern times, Sen. Obama decided that the American people were willing to &lt;br /&gt;wrestle with complex ideas about the most divisive issue in nation. If it turns &lt;br /&gt;out he's right, it will be a signal moment in recent intellectual history.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The trend surely has been in the other direction. In her controversial new book &lt;br /&gt;"The Age of American Unreason," author Susan Jacoby argues that the "scales of &lt;br /&gt;American history have shifted heavily against the vibrant and varied &lt;br /&gt;intellectual life so essential to functioning democracy. During the past four &lt;br /&gt;decades, America's endemic anti-intellectual tendencies have been grievously &lt;br /&gt;exacerbated by a new species of semiconscious anti-rationalism, feeding on and &lt;br /&gt;fed by an ignorant popular culture of video images and unremitting noise that &lt;br /&gt;leaves no room for contemplation or logic." &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In other words, she argues, it's become fashionable to be stupid.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Here is a nation founded by an eerily atypical cadre of intellectuals — &lt;br /&gt;Jefferson, Adams, Madison, Franklin and their ilk — who not only had read the &lt;br /&gt;Greeks but also had absorbed them, who had read Locke and Voltaire and were &lt;br /&gt;building a nation along Enlightenment principles.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Here is a nation that has been led by that archetypal American hero, the &lt;br /&gt;self-made man: the Lincoln who strides out of the backwoods with an ax on his &lt;br /&gt;shoulder and a book in his hand; the Truman who failed as a farmer, failed as a &lt;br /&gt;haberdasher but somehow, because he read widely and deeply, had the wisdom to &lt;br /&gt;help rebuild a shattered world.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And now, here is this same nation, led by a man who can't correctly pronounce &lt;br /&gt;the word "nuclear" and who once told an interviewer that he avoids reading &lt;br /&gt;newspapers because they're full of "opinions."&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This is not to say that President Bush is stupid, only that he is profoundly &lt;br /&gt;intellectually incurious, willing to substitute belief for science, ideology &lt;br /&gt;for fact. And in this, he is typical of his age.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"Just before the 2004 presidential convention," Jacoby writes, "the journalist &lt;br /&gt;Ron Suskind reported a chilling conversation with a senior Bush aide who told &lt;br /&gt;Suskind that members of the press were part of what the Bush administration &lt;br /&gt;considers 'the reality-based community' — those who believe that solutions &lt;br /&gt;emerge from judicious study of discernible reality."&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The aide bragged that "when we act, we create our own reality."&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;These "realities" — that the Iraq war has been a stunningly successful response &lt;br /&gt;to 9/11, that FEMA did a heck of a job in responding to Hurricane Katrina, that &lt;br /&gt;tax cuts for the rich benefited all Americans, that tapping telephones in &lt;br /&gt;Tuscaloosa stops terrorists in Timbuktu — speak for themselves.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In much the same way, many Americans create their own reality from what they &lt;br /&gt;choose to believe, be it fundamentalist preachers preaching that the world is &lt;br /&gt;4,000 years old to street rumors about AIDS being a white plot unleashed to &lt;br /&gt;devastate black communities. The A.C. Nielsen Co. reports the average American &lt;br /&gt;watched 4 hours and 30 minutes a day of television in 2006. The National &lt;br /&gt;Endowment for the Arts reports that the same average American spends 26 minutes &lt;br /&gt;a day reading.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Oh, and the choices TV offers! You don't ever have to watch anything hard or &lt;br /&gt;unpleasant if you don't want to. If you choose, you can watch people getting &lt;br /&gt;tattoos for an hour or two each day. You can devote yourself 24 hours a day to &lt;br /&gt;sports news or celebrity news or news that you agree with, and commentators who &lt;br /&gt;tell you only what you want to hear. And when they make fun of egghead &lt;br /&gt;professors and book learning — global warming, what a joke! — you can revel in &lt;br /&gt;your own anti-intellectualism.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Politicians know all of this, of course. That's why they use 30-second attack &lt;br /&gt;ads that pander to short attention spans and that reinforce distorted beliefs. &lt;br /&gt;TV news directors know it, too; to avoid driving off any more of their &lt;br /&gt;dwindling audiences, they try not to use any more than 10 seconds of any &lt;br /&gt;candidate's remarks. In 2000, Jacoby reports, the average political sound-bite &lt;br /&gt;was down to 7.8 seconds.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So there was Barack Obama, making a 37-minute speech on a very unpleasant &lt;br /&gt;subject, replete with literary and historical allusions, in the middle of a &lt;br /&gt;Tuesday morning, trusting that Americans somehow would stop and pay attention &lt;br /&gt;to it. Even if you don't plan to vote for the man, you have to hope he was &lt;br /&gt;right.</content>
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    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:scottak:100747</id>
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    <published>2008-03-23T14:36:31Z</published>
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    <content type="html">All right, fess up. Which one of you f@#*ers ordered the snow?</content>
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