It's really too nice outside to blog, so I made sure I gave the dog a nice long outing before returning to my shut-in habits.

Saw The Quiet American last night. I started reading the book four years ago to keep my sister company but never got around to finishing it. According to my dad it was pretty accurate regarding plot, and it was more or less cast well. Brendan Fraser had the cream cheese wonky look that the character of Pyle needs. All in all, though, the whole thing felt pretty thin. Maybe I've gotten too impatient to be satisfied with parables and want something a bit meatier. Still, it's worth seeing.

The Hamster is back online (after a fashion) and has a rundown of last night's Real Time With Bill Maher. The panelists were Monica Crowely, Arianna Huffington, and Dennis Miller. What Eric fails to mention is the highlight of the night, in which Arianna turned to Dennis, after he rather pathetically and incoherently defended Bush and the war on Iraq, looked him in the eye and said. "You know Dennis, if you don't stop defending this administration, you're going to end up as Bush's Sammy Davis Jr."

Oh how sweet it was. That was it. He never recovered. He's whipped it out, waved it in her face, only to find out that hers was bigger.

One has to feel bad for Dennis, even though he's had that Arianna TKO coming for a long time. He lost two cushy jobs in the same year, and has pretty much spent the last several months mouthing off bad frat-boy style jokes against liberals and Bush critics. How far he's fallen was especially obvious last night, especially in contrast to to Maher who's refashioned himself completely as the comedic voice who's not afraid to say anything. Bill Maher is who Dennis Miller used to be, and Maher was clearly throwing him a bone by inviting him on his panel.