The President of the USA

Excellent article on George Bush from Slate.com can be found here.

I like the paraphrase from Artstotle where he teaches that persuasion depends on the speaker's skill at portraying himself as a trustworthy source. It seems that this is where George excels in!

Great observations on how the President filters his news and plays the media to hide his mistakes.

Movie Review - Live-in Maid

Live-in Maid

hu·bris

Pronunciation: 'hyü-br&s
Function: noun
Etymology: Greek hybris
: exaggerated pride or self-confidence

That’s what Live in Maid is all about. The movie revolves around a well-to-do Argentine lady, Beba, and her live-in maid, Dora. Although Dora has worked for the family (Beba has since divorced) for a very very long time, there is still a cold, distant relationship between them. Beba is a first class b!$ch and treats Dora like dirt, you assume that she has done so since Dora started working for her.

But this is Argentina, right before the country went into economic collapse. Beba tries to keep up appearances and maintain her lifestyle and behavior while, her bank account rapidly becomes worthless. Dora, the model of service & humility, tries to make the best of the situation and pretends not to notice her ill treatment or the rapidly worsening situation.

It’s an unexpectedly funny movie seeing Beba try to keep up appearances while Dora watches everything. As the situation becomes more desperate for Beba, it is with great amusement that we see the roles get reversed. Swallowing your pride is never easy…

Hide and Seek

The boss of a big company needed to call one of his employees about an urgent problem with one of the main computers, dialed the employee's home phone number and was greeted with a child's whisper.

"Hello."

"Is your daddy home?" he asked.

"Yes," whispered the small voice.
"May I talk with him?"

The child whispered, "No."

Surprised, and wanting to talk with an adult, the boss asked, "Is your
Mommy there?"

"Yes."

"May I talk with her?"

Again the small voice whispered, "No."

Hoping there was somebody with whom he could leave a message, the boss
asked, "Is anybody else there?"

"Yes," whispered the child, "a policeman."

Wondering what a cop would be doing at his employee's home, the boss
asked, "May I speak with the policeman?"

"No, he's busy", whispered the child.

"Busy doing what?"

"Talking to Daddy and Mommy and the Fireman," came the whispered answer.

Growing concerned and even worried as he heard what sounded like a
helicopter through the ear piece on the phone the boss asked, what is
that noise?"

"A hello-copper" answered the whispering voice.

"What is going on there?" asked the boss, now truly alarmed.

In an awed whispering voice the child answered, "The search team just
landed the hello-copper."

Alarmed, concerned, and even more then just a little frustrated the
boss asked, "What are they searching for?"

Still whispering, the young voice replied along with a muffled giggle:
"ME."

The Miracle of Toilet Paper

Fresh from my shower, I stand in front of the mirror, complaining to my husband that my breasts are too small. Instead of characteristically telling me it's not so, he uncharacteristically comes up with a suggestion:

"If you want your breasts to grow, then every day take a piece of toilet paper and rub it between your breasts for a few seconds."
Willing to try anything, I fetch a piece of toilet paper and I stand in front of the mirror, rubbing it between my breasts.
"How long will this take?" I ask. "They will grow larger over a period of years," he replies.
I stop.
"Do you really think rubbing a piece of toilet paper between my breasts every day will make my breasts larger over the years?"
Without missing a beat he says, "Worked for your butt, didn't
it?"

Movie Review - Alicia's Names

Alicia's Names

I'm not quite sure where the movie got its title since no one is named Alicia in the movie. Well, maybe they were, but I must've been pretty bored to miss that, which is quite possible.

A definitely average looking, non-descript girl comes into a Spanish household and starts to tear the family apart...using nothing more than....get ready....her average looks. The power of the median shines in this movie. We can all (at least those of us that are average) take heart that our average abilities and looks, in and of themselves, will drive other people to the brink of madness with desire and envy!

Take your average person, add a few lies, and then you have an unstoppable villian!

If you are into deep (extremely deep) psychological plots that show dysfunctional familes, you'll love this one. I however, don't need any more dysfunction than I already have....