James Woods was just on CNBC's The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch. I'm not sure why he was there, but Deutsch, an annoying and abrasive New Yorker, got him to say a few things of interest:

1. Deutsch was asking Mr. Woods about his opinion of the ABC program, Desperate Housewives. Woods said something nice about the whole thing, and noted that although he hadn't dated Nicolette Sheridan, he liked "British chicks". James Woods, you just went up another notch in my estimation.

2. He repeated his story about seeing, on a flight earlier in 2001, some of the al-Qaeda operatives who would later pilot various aircraft into military and commercial targets inside the continental United States on 11 September 2001. I either had never heard that story, or had heard it so long ago that I had forgotten, and I found it somewhat amazing.

However, the people at Snopes have found this story credible, so go figure.

Lastly, Mr. Woods had the following points to say about mayors of New York City:

-Under David Dinkins, New York City was like Beirut in the 1970s.
-[Former Mayor Rudolph] Giuliani was/is a great leader who saved NYC, both on 11 September and in the time prior. Furthermore, he was a great statesman, etc. In addition, Giuliani will be a great President after 2008.

---

Well, I'll say this: I think more of James Woods than I did prior to this interview, but I must disagree with him on Mr. Giuliani's Presidential prospects; I'll not vote for him in a primary. Social issues matter, Mr. Mayor, and you're on the wrong side of a couple of mine.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 10:17 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I was checking the site logs, and I saw that someone was looking for Norfolk and Western's 4-8-4 "J" number 611 for Microsoft's Train Simulator. Well, I am pleased to report the following information:

The model, and apparently its textures, have been created. The *.ENG file, which is to say the numbers that the simulation will use to replicate the performance of the locomotive, is under production. I have no information about any particularized sound suite.

More information is available by clicking here. This link may become inoperative at some time in the future, due to the nature of the forum software.

And praise to God & 'Racehorse' Smith, for a last-generation N&W steam locomotive pack is not too far from completion. Included will be the following locomotives:

J 611
M 1100
A 1218
Y3 2009
Y6 2171

Also, an accurate model of Jawn Henry, the N&W's coal-fired steam turbine monster of the 1950s, has been seen in production. Rule Roanoke, baby. To borrow a phrase from Gihren Zabi, sieg steam! (So long as it's N&W steam, that is.)

Posted by: Country Pundit at 09:06 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I just got finished listening to the Derb Radio broadcast for 28th February 2005, and I'm pleasantly amused.¹ It will have to serve as the substitute for "London Calling" until such time as a) someone pulls the BBC back towards sanity and b) the World Service is broadcast on shortwave frequencies in North America.

Anyways. Does anyone know what the bumper cues for Derb Radio are? I don't recognize either of them, but I get the sense that I should. I hope someone'll write in and pass that information along. Thanks! more...

Posted by: Country Pundit at 01:43 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Yee haw. The Oscar crowd has seen fit to correct its 1998 mistake (i.e. Oscar for Gwyneth Paltrow, not for Cate Blanchett) yesterday evening, and Cate Blanchett goes home with the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, for her role as Katherine Hepburn in Martin Scorcese's The Aviator.

Take that, Sideways. As for the other winners, I don't know and don't care. Late last night and this morning, it snowed something like half a foot or so, and life is great at the moment.

NB: A quick search of Technorati seems to indicate that the Italians are very excited about our Oscars. That's weird. Usually, when someone mentions the word "Oscar" to me, I think of (variously) the letter "O", a Soviet SSGN, or the type of fish my folks used to keep in the early 1970s. Obviously it's a problem of branding.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 06:23 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Here's a little something that I wandered across while goofing off listening to Portishead's 1994 release, Dummy. It's a parody of Charlie Daniels' hit "The Devil Went Down to Georgia", re-written by Southern Pacific agreement employees, whose contracts have been picked up by the SP's new owner, the Union Pacific Railroad.

So as not to clog the front page with this, it's in the extended entry. more...

Posted by: Country Pundit at 09:12 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Oh, joy. If you're one of the people (like me) who once upon a time liked to listen to "the Bristol sound"---vaguely defined as trip-hop---then the subject will mean something to you. The eerie sounds of Beth Gibbons used to echo through part of my college career, and I'd always wondered what had happened to them.

According to a news post on pheadweb, Portishead frontman Geoff Barrow told an outfit called "BBC Music 6" that their third LP was nearly completed.

I went and checked this for myself on the BBC Music 6---some sort of music channel that simulcasts to digital radio, the Internet, and something called interactive TV---site and found the following from Geoff Barrow:

"We're actually into it as we speak. We took some time off for Christmas, but generally we're doing another record, yeah. We got together, sounds cool, so we're gonna go with it."

Music 6 noted that Barrow "told us it's already well on the way to being written".

I don't understand British music journalism very well, but there may be some sort of disconnect between the fan site, Geoff Barrow, and the Music 6 people. At any rate, it'll be a Good Thing if I get another Portishead album in the next couple of months or so. Three albums, one of which was a live one, in eleven years is lagging behind even Liz Phair, and that takes some work.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 11:59 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I found an Amtrak-themed song while browsing my SiteMeter records. It's set to a song by the Beatles, "Happiness is a Warm Gun". I've never heard the original, so I can't even try to sing the song. Without further adieu, "Amtrak's Hope is David Gunn".

Interesting.

Link recovered from here.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 04:14 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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An update to Mozilla's most excellent Firefox web browser has been released. Read the front page of mozillaZine for more details; in the alternative, click here for the supposed full text of the article.

I haven't gotten it yet, unfortunately. I'll have to figure out the exact strategy for local implementation on two different machines.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 11:02 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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What exactly happened over at the Bull Moose Republicans? I usually enjoyed reading their site, especially since I was somewhat fond of TR, but now all that's gone. They may be trying to resurrect The Bully Pulpit, but perhaps not.

In any event, since I mentioned TR, I can't post this without a link to one of his top speeches: The Man in the Arena

It's hard to believe that 1910 is nearly a hundred years ago. Wow.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 11:16 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I've tried for over a day now to come up with some coherent post on the death of Hunter S. Thompson.

Since you're not reading it, I have of course not produced what I was looking for. It wasn't going to be an attempt to ape the style of Thompson---sorry, my internal organs are more precious than that---but I did want to say something, since I cruised through several college courses (and at least one law school course) using some variant of his approach.

Not that I had the money for his kind of living; if I had, it would have been invested in computer games, record albums, and the like. It was college, and I was in a different world.

Despite his loathing for all things Republican and therefore by extension me at some level, I'll miss the mucker. Reading his inane ramblings from the late 1960s and early 1970s gave me an insight on the Other of American life, and that was somehow useful. He was also usually amusing, when his prose wasn't intractable or incompetent. The second volume of The Gonzo Papers was my favorite read of his, because it wasn't the over-the-top crap produced to do whatever it was he was aiming for.

I'll miss the coot.

Selah.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 11:08 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I'm watching NASCAR Nation on Speed, and two things have occurred to me:

1. The addition of women into motorsports broadcasting strikes me as making as much sense as planting me in Julia Child's world. While I might be able to be a decent cook, I would look out of place the entire time and my presence would indicate some sort of ulterior motive. I would say that it's similar with this latest effort in the absolute equality-of-results drive. Lawrence Summers has gotten a little mangled by this, apparently. At any rate, Jeanne Zelasko was tolerable (barely) because she had already proven her chops as a sports reporter on baseball and other things.¹

I miss the good old days of Jack Arute, Chris Economaki, and men like that in the broadcast booth. Oh, for the better time when Darrell Waltrip was dominating the track and not embarrassing himself on air. Chris Myers, go back to ESPN.

2. Whoever is doing the in-studio presentation---perhaps Courtney George---needs to button her shirt. Call wardrobe and have her redone, thank you. Lose the chintzy necklace.

Jesus God Almighty, Janice Dean just did a weather report. My God, she's been hit with the FNC Ugly Stick a few times. I used to like hearing Janice in the early hours of Imus in the Morning, but I wouldn't begrudge her a career move. After all, working with the I-man can't always be the most fun thing in the world. How one restrains from garroting Sid Rosenberg is always beyond me.

God, I regret the mainstreaming of Winston Cup racing. Note to the Speed Channel: I won't be watching your NASCAR Nation again. more...

Posted by: Country Pundit at 08:10 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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JohnL of TexasBestGrok has the new poll up. The TCP Voter Guide is below:

A. I recommend a vote for Tricia Helfer's Number Six. This recommendation is not made on the basis of having observed her in the new Galactica, but rather web-based observations.¹ In fact, I've never seen the new show. Not having the SFC will do that to you, although it appears that Katee Sackhoff might be cute. Nothing, however, will beat Maren Jensen in blue on the bridge.

B. Kristanna Loken fails for two reasons: 1) She's made out in public with the entertainer, Pink. That's disgusting. If women are going to do that sort of thing together, both of them need to be good looking. Loken skates perilously close to not making the cut, and Pink fails miserably. 2) Her acting, and thus the T-X, made less of an impression on me in T3 than Claire Danes did. Given that Loken wore tight leather, didn't say anything (for the most part) and was blond-haired/blue-eyed, that's saying something. Coming up second to Claire Danes in overall appeal isn't something that just happens. Indeed, it takes strenuous effort to be less appealing than Miss Danes. (Admittedly, I have a bit of a favorable lean towards Miss Danes, although I've certainly never really watched anything she's in other than T3.)

C. Seven of Nine not only represented audience pandering but booted my favorite character off of Voyager. Yes, I was more taken with Jennifer Lien's Kes than I was Jeri Ryan's Seven of Nine. Blond hair, blue eyes, pointed ears, and a honey-laced drawl that could melt titanium win over sheer forward weight, catsuits, high heels, and a domineering personality every time.²

For the forgoing reasons, dear readers, I suggest that you vote for Six and don't go on to seven or ten. Thank you. I'll be here all week.

UPDATE: Hah! Téa Leoni wins the poll, with 24 of 69 votes cast. Liv Tyler finished second with 21 votes, Annabella Sciorra was third, and Natalie Wood was fourth. Not bad for someone who's been dead on the order of 25 years. Yay for Mrs. Duchovny, even if she is reportedly "grieving" over the re-election of George W. Bush. Well, I didn't vote for her brains, and I for darned sure didn't vote for her body, so it doesn't look like I'm out too much. A year or two at Camp Country Pundit could probably correct any errors in thought, and "we have the technology" to improve the latter issue as well. more...

Posted by: Country Pundit at 11:04 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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The latest sci-fi babe poll over at TexasBestGrok is up. Subject: "The Women of Asteroid Disaster Flicks".

After careful review, the proper choice is (B), Téa Leoni as Jenny Lerner in Deep Impact.

(D) Annabella Sciorra is the wrong choice because she was last hot in Jungle Fever with Wesley Snipes. (A) Natalie Wood is wrong because we don't know anything about her, other than that she was supposed to be hot. (C) Liv Tyler is wrong because Armageddon is that bad of a movie.

Although I never actually saw Deep Impact, Mrs. Duchovny (much to Bree Sharp's disappointment, I bet) was one of the reasons that I thought about going. I've never actually seen her on screen for any other thing than a random episode of The X-Files, so where the attraction comes from, I don't know. Maybe I ought to rent/buy Jurassic Park III and watch that, although I've never seen any of those. (On the other hand, that could cause problems; Laura Dern, despite her fog-headed nitwittery, is good-looking.)

On review, the thing that once caught my eye about Fox's wife was this picture. I don't particularly know why, but it did. Anyone who's got an explanation can go right ahead and tell me; I'd like to know. Use e-mail, because I've never figured out how to nuke the comment spam.

Meanwhile: Neener neener, JohnL, Wilma still won.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 12:36 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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