By now you've all seen the photo op of Sean Penn touring an Iraqi children's hospital. Surreal.

Penn explained his visit as being "a natural extension of my obligation to find my own voice on matters of conscience." Most celebs, like Bert Convey and Wolfgang Puck, are content to enjoy their millions on vacation at plush resorts, or in the comfort of their Hollywood mansions. As much as I'd like to be cynical here, I've got to respect those who risk their safety and good graces in the eyes of the U.S. State Department to venture into war zones in order to raise awareness and promote peace. "Just a publicity stunt," you say? Maybe, but there'd be easier ways for him to get back in the public eye. If Penn wants to play Bishop Desmond Tutu, I say let him.

Hello Psychology

A Raven maven sent us a couple of links to official Sanrio psychological tests, which will help you to...understand your personality? You are to answer the question of Sanrio and Kitty.

This is Kitty Goods Picture Test!

Here is Shockwave Anxious Test!

Please to answer.

Bloggripe

Don't you hate it when:

• You've spent two-and-a-half hours writing up the perfect blog entry and your system crashes before you save it?
  
• You forget to capture the link of a brilliant article and can't find it again?
  
• You post but don't appear on the list of Updated blogs?
  
• You come back home at night and notice the blog you posted in the morning had a typo in it?
  

4:29:12 PM       

Might be worth tuning into SNL tonight to see guest host Al Gore do some sketch humor. One of the big problems with Gore is his flat affect. I saw him on C-SPAN once addressing a group of students on the subject of emerging technologies and thought he was a passionate, animated speaker. Whatever happened to that guy? This is his big chance at a comeback.

Did you catch John McCain's stint on the show? He proved that hosting SNL can be an enormous image boost. His skit on Barbara Streisand was amusing and pointed—blurring the lines between politics and comedy. It's no surprise that the Daily Show with Jon Stewart has become a major source of news coverage for a lot of people, because comedy is largely truth, and when you laugh at it, you're recognizing some fundamental truism at work.

Eraserhead

No, not the David Lynch film, I mean North Korea's Kim Jong Il, also known as "Dear Leader." The North Koreans announced this morning that they're ready to deal "bitter defeat and death" to us Americans. This would indicate that they are not frightened of us.

"The DPRK remains unfazed as it has made full preparations to cope with the confrontation and clash with the Yankees. The army and people of the DPRK with burning hatred for the Yankees are in full readiness to fight a death-defying battle," said the commentary, carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

I Was Waiting for This

Remember Bored of the Rings, the Harvard Lampoon parody of Tolkien's trilogy? Michael Gerber continues the tradition of being mean to best-loved books with his Barry Trotter and the Shameless Parody, reviewed today in the NYT. We are invited to join Barry as he tries to prevent the filming of "Barry Trotter and the Inevitable Attempt to Cash-in." Here's an excerpt of the first chapter, available in pdf at the official Barry Trotter Website. At this point, we've discovered that Barry is a celebrity wizard and loves to lord it over his mates at Hogwash, in a rather cynical and detached fashion:

Another night, another gaggle of groupies. By now, it bored Barry stiff, but in some weird way, it was how he remined himself he was a celebrity, somebody special. And (he rationalized), talk about giving back to your fans! "Okay, girls: line up for your de-lousing spell, and then we can get started," Barry said. "Did everybody remember to wash?"

Super-Size It

A growing trend in the LA nightlife scene are the burgeoning clubs for plus-sized gals. The leader of the pack is Club Curves, run by Shadoe Gray and Michelle Wilson, shown at right.

I'm not going to be mean here, because it seems reasonable that someone would want to cater to this market segment.

"We are people like everybody else," says Gray, 38, a size 22. "We drink and we dance and we do everything everybody else does. We have women who had never been to a nightclub before come in here and have men pay attention to them or buy them drinks. It gives them a sense of self-confidence that they take to their jobs, to their marriages or wherever."

Tree Amigos

We're off this morning to get the Christmas tree. This is always fun. You're standing in the chilly air, surrounded by green trees and the resinous scent of pine. Strings of lights add a festive note as you stroll on sawdust and woodchips, trying to act like a shrewd "expert" on tree-buying, as ruthless as a Turkish rug merchant, determined to get that toothless old goat down 5 bucks because, dammit, there's a bald spot near the bottom of this one, and—I say—needles fall off when you shake it. But no, the guy figures he can sell this one easy, he's got plenty of time, so he puts the screws to you, "If you can only go $65, there's this little 2-foot dwarf scotch fir over here..." Now you riposte, clenching your teeth and staring off cooly into the distance, "Well, honey, I guess we're gonna head over to that other place by the car dealership..." The goat won't have any of it: "Why he gets those trees from Idaho!" Which doesn't make sense, but you sense collusion in this market. He's sputtering now "Fulla tree weevils, they is..." So you feign interest in some lower-priced trees, circling the one you really want, and staying close enough to seize it should another shopper get too close. "OK," you tell the goat after he's finished wrapping one up for a family in an SUV, "I can go $85, but hey, it's Christmas, right? Whaddya say?" This appeal to the generosity of the season never makes any sense at all, but you try anyway. "Oh Jesus, sweet bloody Jesus," the goat drags a sap-stained workglove over his brow, 'cause you're killing him here, but the resigned shrug he gives you is sweet victory and you chortle all the way home.

10:13:59 AM