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FAIL!

Don’t laugh when you see the title of a new book that challenges the elite’s view that President Bush is no brainiac: The Leadership Genius of George W. Bush. Really. “We did it,” says coauthor Carolyn Thompson, a leadership expert, “because he’s so widely underestimated and because everybody thinks he’s not what he really is.” That would be Master Leader, she and James Ware conclude in their scholarly study. More in-depth than others like The Rumsfeld Way, it charts Bush’s 10 common-sense leadership lessons, like: Hire smart, build trust, talk straight, and leave aides alone. “General Patton,” they write, “followed the same strategy.” Yet unlike the field commander, Bush gets no respect, à la Rodney Dangerfield. But that, too, says Thompson, is part of Bush’s genius. “He likes to be underestimated.” She’s even copied her two favorite Bush traits. While unpresidential at times, he tells it like he sees it. And he’s religious about sticking to his schedule, which includes two hours of exercise and home by 7 p.m. “I do the same now and it works,” she says. “He’s made a believer out of me.”

(via Improbable Research)

From Wikipedia:

Fan death is a South Korean urban legend which states that an electric fan, if left running overnight in a closed room, can cause the death (by suffocation, poisoning, or hypothermia) of those inside. Fans manufactured and sold in Korea are equipped with a timer switch that turns them off after a set number of minutes, which users are frequently urged to set when going to sleep with a fan on.

(via Endless Parade of Excellence)

(via Slog)

(via Kottke)

And I love Family Guy’s version.

From Yes We Carve.

(via delicious.com/glass)

Patrick writes:

A few times today when I go to CC I’ve gotten a warning message from my McAfee virus protection about your site trying to change settings in my computer.

This is the first I’ve heard about this but I’m trying to troubleshoot it so I’ve deactivated some things that may be causing this. If anyone else is having problems, drop me a line. I have a suspicion that a Chitika adstrip is the culprit and that it was attempting to redirect people. If this is the case then bye bye Chitika. I won’t allow ads on my site that do popups or redirects. But it’s possible that there is something else that is happening. Any info is appreciated.

Isn’t it great having a CEO President in office?

Last week I posted an old letter that my grandfather had written about his experience being inside a theater when the roof collapsed.

I received such a great response from readers that I thought it might make for a good segment to post some old letters from people or their relatives that may be interesting to others.

If you have any letters like this that you would like to share, please email them to me (cc@cynical-c.com) and I’ll post them.

One of my favorite new blogs, Mystery Man on Film, takes a look at tension, or lack thereof in the new Indiana Jones movie:

You may recall how, after having gone over those 3 waterfalls, Indy tells the gang that he has to return the skull. Why? “Because it told me to.” Excuse me, can I ask a question? How can there be any tension leading up to the Third Act when Indy has the McGuffin in his possession and he’s doing what the Russians want him to do (without forcing him to do it) and he’s also doing what the skull wants him to do? Where’s the tension in that? If anything, the Russians should’ve obtained the skull in the chase sequence, captured Indy and the gang, and they all marched up to the chamber together. This, by the way, is exactly what happened in Darabont’s draft. Not only that, before going into the chamber, Darabont gave us a scene filled with tension of the gang tied to lots of TNT and a 3-minute fuse. You also had Oxley growing more terrified as they arrive at the grand plaza of The Great Stone Temple of the Gods. And then Porfi walks down the steps holding the machete and severed head. THAT is how it’s done.

THERE’S NO TENSION WITH A WEAK ANTAGONIST

A baddie has to be BAD in order to be feared. Irina Spalko was the worst and weakest of the villains in the entire Indy franchise. She wasn’t even as ruthless as Julian Glover. Screenwriter David Koepp cock-blocked every opportunity to make her a great villain. First, he should’ve established early just how BAD she really is. The worst thing she ever did was whip out her sword. I would’ve been happier if, instead of Mac betraying Indy in the warehouse, Spalko kills Mac to prove that she meant business. The fact that Spalko couldn’t communicate with the skull was another misstep, in my opinion. Her mental connection to the skull would’ve raised the stakes and turned her into a more dangerous antagonist. Also, why make Spalko a psychic if A) she can’t even read Indy’s mind and B) nothing else develops from it? Her psychic abilities, I guess, was her motivation to obtain the skull’s power of mind, but she was so weak as a villain that I never felt she deserved what she got in the end.