Joseph Gordon-Leavitt seems like a really cool freaking guy. For those who don’t know, he’s the kid from Third Rock from the Sun. In the last few years, he’s turned in two stellar performances in Gregg Araki’s excellent, totally disturbing and not-ever-to-be-rented-by homophobes Mysterious Skin and the soon-to-be teen classic Brick. In an interview with Salon today, he has this to say:

Given your recent performances, you’re going to get offered parts in films that are a little bit more black and white in terms of their structure and that maybe also pay really, really well. Are you really going to be able to say that you don’t want to do those kinds of movies?

I just want to do good movies, and by the way, “The Lookout” paid really well.

Well, good. I’m glad to hear it.

I’m so lucky to have a job like this. It’s funny to me when I hear actors talk about “littler” movies like “The Lookout.” “The Lookout” is a huge movie! It cost like $20 million to make! Come on.

Amen, right? I think I might be able to make a pretty good movie for $20 million.

1. I hate saying “I told you so.” I would much rather people recognized that I was right without having to bring it to their attention.

2. For my money, there is no better foreign word than “loco.” I vote to permanently retire “crazy” in favor of our friend from South of the Border. While we’re at it, let’s replace “donkey” with “burro.”

Com$tock links to a depressing article about our hometown, Detroit. Well, that’s technically not true for me. I’m from a suburb of Flint called Clio. Flint in itself is a suburb of Detroit, though, so I feel fairly comfortable in calling it my hometown, even though pretty much my entire relationship with the city involved going to concerts and then getting the fuck out of there before I got shot.

The big question is: in this day and age, what with the Internet and all, why aren’t more enterprising youngsters moving there? The cool thing to do in LA and New York is to move to the worst part of town, because apartments are relatively cheap … and by “relatively” I mean not-quite-as-grossly overpriced as everything else in the city. Like, maybe in the worst part of LA you could get a house for $250,000. Compare that to Detroit, where, according to the article, you can get a place for 1/10 of that. Why do I continue to live here?

In preparation for tomorrow night’s premiere of This American Life on Showtime, please enjoy this hilarious parody of the radio show.

(Thanks, Boingboing!)

I have recently noticed a strange phenomenon in the world of emails. If I write an email with more than one question, invariably, the respondent will only answer the first question. I have determined that this phenomenon occurs not because my emails are too verbose, but because many people, especially the people we encounter in the business world, never really learned to read properly.

This is interesting to me because I make a living writing materials that are intended to teach exactly this skill. On the state assessment tests I write, one type of question is referred to as “directly stated.” Here is a completely fabricated example:

Billy, a seven-year old boy, went to the museum. He liked the dinosaurs the best.

1. How old is Billy?
A. seven
B. twelve
C. ten
D. dinosaur

When I am writing these questions, I am always astounded that there are children who cannot answer them. But this seems like exactly the same problem adults face when they cannot process more than one question at a time. It’s easy to tell if someone can’t write … but you can never tell if they can’t read, because it’s all internal. I am becoming convinced that a large percentage of the adult population has little-to-no ability to comprehend what they are reading. I guess this explains the success of The DaVinci Code.*

*I have not read The DaVinci Code. I am afraid I would like it too much and thus lose both my indie-cred and a solid go-to punchline that delivers every time.

This is the blog for a dude I used to work with named Norbert. He writes & records hip-hop under the name Eddie Caine. He gave me a bunch of tracks before I left and they are pretty freaking hot. He’s having a record release party soon. I highly encourage you to spend some time on his blog and go to the release party.

Before Sarah and I left New York, Sarah and her roommate Leah had a party for three Iraqis who were visiting the states. Leah freelanced for a company called Chat the Planet that was putting together a series about college students in Iraq. The guys came over to talk about their experiences and meet with some “normal” Americans. I didn’t spend much time with them, but I was surprised by how little their opinions and manner of communicating differed from ours. Of course, they were speaking English, so I’m sure that helped.

Now, the series is finally going live, and it’s fascinating. The first three episodes are live at the Hometown Baghdad website, and apparently there are more than 40 episodes to come. It’s the first thing I’ve seen showing what life is like for ordinary Iraqis. I think it’s an incredibly important show that all Americans should see. It’s hard to empathize when you see footage on the news which invariably makes Iraq look like a terrifying place filled with miserable people, but this series demonstrates that a lot of people in the country are just trying to get by amid devastating circumstances.

Segretto has begun posting his 100 Favorite Cult Films. According to Netflix, Mike’s tastes are closer to mine than anyone else in my life. We are practically the same person.

Delish!

(Thanks, Boingboing!)

Mark Green was the Public Advocate of New York City who was my candidate of choice for mayor a few years ago. Sadly, he did not win. Kyle and I rode in an elevator with him once. Kyle had performed at a fund raiser for a nonprofit run by his wife.

“Did you enjoy the show?” Kyle asked him as the elevator began its descent.

“Yes,” he said. “Especially the speaker.”

“Oh, yeah,” Kyle said, “she was pretty good.”

“That was my wife,” Mark replied.

“Your wife is a foxy, foxy lady,” Kyle answered.

To this day I am unaware of whether Kyle knew he was talking to a former mayoral candidate or not.

Flash forward a few years later. Mark Green is now the president of Air America radio. As you may have read, John Edwards recently dropped out of a Fox Network-sponsored debate in Nevada on account of the fact that Fox doesn’t like Democrats and it has nothing to do with news. The debate was subsequently canceled. Fox went nuts, as they tend to do with anyone who does not respect their dark powers. Some dude at Fox called the Democrats Stalinists for their wariness toward debating in front of a rabidly hostile audience. In response, Mark Green, husband of one foxy, foxy lady, sent this letter to “key Republican party chairs in the four early primary and caucus states”:

As the new president of Air America, I’d like to offer to host or co-host one of your upcoming presidential debates.

Why us? First, this would allow your debate to reach many voters. Combining our 2 million radio audience, along with our satellite, internet and web audiences, means that some 2.5 million Americans would hear or read about the debate.

Second, it would allow Republicans to differentiate themselves from Democrats — embracing a debate hosted by a progressive media outlet after Nevada Democrats canceled a debate scheduled to be hosted by the conservative Fox Cable News Channel. (more…)