Obserpaloozafest!

When the movie "Antz" was released, I remember reading about how the illustrators decided to draw the ants with six legs, not eight. Six can be cute, focus groups showed, but eight is creepy. I've since noticed that every cartoon depicting humans or anthropomorphized animals gives them a thumb and three fingers. Never four. Why is it that our own world is perceived by us as ugly when we portray it back to ourselves?

The phrase "at the the end of the day" has got to go. Watching Meet the Press on Sunday, Chuck Schumer used it no less than six times in 10 minutes. Russert: "But Senator, your candidate agreed to the rules; now she wants to break them." Schumer: "Look, Tim, what I can say is this: At the end of the day..." Russert: "So she wants to have it both ways. Are you okay with that?" Schumer: "Look, Tim, the bottom line is this: At the end of the day..." "Senator, here is video footage showing you hacking your wife to tiny bits with a steak knife. Your reaction?" "People will say different things, Tim, but look, at the end of the day..."

The members of U2 almost never smile when they perform.

The members of the E Street band almost never stop smiling.

The greatest band to never make it big was Iffy.

All the jokes about John McCain's age will ultimately create a backlash that will work in his favor. Note to Democrats: Don't make your opponent into a victim, especially when he actually has been a victim.

When little kids make up their own language, it almost always sounds African or Hawaiian.

I should have outgrown John Prine's song "Let's Talk Dirty in Hawaiian" by now. I haven't. I still think it's funny. (Lyrics here.)

The iPhone makes all other phones and PDAs look cold and complicated.

"U23D" makes all other movies look flat and, well... two-dimensional. 

HBO makes most other TV stations look unoriginal. 

Kopplin's coffee makes all other coffee taste burnt.

Blogging tends to deplete one's billable hours.