Odds and Ends

Here are some miscellaneous blog bits from the Catican. Enjoy!

• There's a great article in the WaPo today - 5 Myths About North Korea. It's definitely worth a read.


• I finally removed Mish Shedlock from my read list. Mish is an econoblogger with a huge following. He's right much of the time, but he has massive blind spots and his posts are endlessly gloomy and sneering. In Mish's world, the only wise person is Mish. There's got to be someone better out there.


• We went and saw Voyage of the Dawn Treader yesterday. I highly recommend it, but for Narnia fanatics like me, I'll have to see it a second time to really see the movie. It deviates sufficiently from the book that as I was watching, I was trying to figure out why they chose the plot lines they did. It's a fine movie, but the changes in the story were distracting.


• As I watched it, near the end, I got the uncomfortable feeling that the creative team didn't trust the original story. Just as they did in Prince Caspian, they amplified the action sequences and tightened the plot considerably. The slow and gentle story was revved up.


• If you're going to make changes to a classic, you'd better be a darn good writer. You're not likely to make changes for the better. The most you can hope for is to not screw it up.


• I'm starting to feel sorry for Obama. The episode the other day where he ran out of the room and left Bill Clinton to face the press was sad and disturbing. To me, it reeks of fear and a lack of self-confidence. He didn't want a side-by-side comparison. B-Daddy thinks Obama has thrown in the towel.


• As a secondary thought, it also reflects ill on Clinton. He couldn't be trusted to take a submissive role to Obama. Had they done a joint press conference, there's no way Clinton would have deferred sufficiently to Obama to make him seem like the top dog.


• Our Maximum Leader wants more food. Now.