You'd think common sense would negate the need for a law here

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News from Google

Two items to report:

• Google Personalized Homepage now includes tabs and collapsable modules (though there seems to be a bit of a caching bug)...
• Just found the blog Google Operating System which is awash with tips, tricks, and insights from the world of Google's APIs and toys. A must read for the Google-obsessed.

The Wicker Man

Yowza. Got dragged out to see the remake of 1973's The Wicker Man, starring my most beloved of craptactular actors, Nicholas Cage. It was great to escape the clutches of the office for a few hours, and for that I'm grateful... but geez. I suppose I should have expected this from the cast, which includes:

* Diane Delano, whose only role in the film was to remind me of Kathy Bates in About Schmidt and worry me for nearly 90 minutes that there'd be a similar scene here - though thankfully there's nothing so scary in this flick; and

* Molly Parker, who reminds me that some Canadians should stick to Canadian films, like the highly entertaining Men With Brooms.

If you're thinking of seeing this, I recommend renting it or seeing it in a nigh-empty theatre so you can MST3K the hell out of it as you watch it - yes, it's that bad. (Or good, depending on your point of view.)

Some quotes from rottentomatoes.com, which gave this remake a rather fitting 14% freshness rating.

"Watching Cage karate chop Leelee "Made-for-TV" Sobiesky into submission is almost worth the price of admission. Well, assuming admission was free."
"Nic meets his ex-fiancé, Willow, whose submarine-sized lips seem to be gradually folding around her head like a collagen Venus Flytrap."
"For viewers, the biggest challenge may be holding back screams of laughter as Summersisle is revealed to be the Island of Awful Acting. ... the original film ended with a sudden shock, this one climaxes with high hilarity."
"The plot is nonsensical but the cast and Edenic setting is worth a look."
"The most risible backwoods thriller since M. Night Shyamalan traveled to The Village."

I'm afraid I have to agre with that last one, and so, to quote Seth Green and the gang from Robot Chicken, "What a tweest!"

Picasa rocks!

I've recovered most of the photos that were online before I was hacked last fall, and posted them here. (Note the new sidebar item too.)

Testing out Picasa2 for Linux

  Still looking for a simple solution to publish pics online (instead of my old technique of running Photoshop macros and a bit of manually updated PHP). Testing, testing, one-two... 

(BTW, this is a shot of Lynn Canyon taken in March 2006.)