Author: MEC

5 reasons to post top-5 lists

5. The numeral 5 in a blog post title is a secret signal to Google’s SEO filters that the post is a Super-premium-level link and should be moved up in the page rankings.

4. No need to worry about how to organize the post’s contents.

3. 5 is not the same as 10, so David Letterman won’t be able to sue you for stealing his bit.

2. 5 is a perfect blogging number: you can use one hand to count, and still be able to type with the other.

1. The numeral 5 looks very much like the letter S: because the most powerful link-bait word also begins with S, by a process of unconscious transference many readers will click the link hoping to get lucky.

Ganging up on the iBookstore

This evening, I went to the iBookstore in iTunes and checked out the Computers & Internet section. Not only is our iPad 2 Project Book featured, but it is #2 in the sales ranking, just behind my friend Jeff Carlson’s book. There’s also another book of mine on the page, another one of Jeff’s, two books by yet another friend, Joe Kissell, and another book by another friend, Tonya Engst.

Weirdest flash mob ever.

Simon and Garfunkel on the 405

When you’re in the car
Feeling stalled.
When smog is in your eyes
Turning them to burning balls.

I’ve blocked your lane, oh,
When traffic crawls
And off-ramps can’t be found:
Like a bridge over shut-down freeways
I will tear me down.
Like a bridge over shut-down freeways
I will tear me down.

Sorry, Lisa, “Larry Crowne” is Better Than That

Lisa Schwarzbaum trashes “Larry Crowne” with a grade of C+ while giving “Transformers 3” a B. Oh, my.

Romantic comedy has this in common with romance: when you’re not in the mood, it can disappoint. Maybe Schwarzbaum was just having a bad day.

The film that I saw this afternoon was a cute, light-hearted, broadly painted romantic comedy, showcasing some likable actors delivering engaging performances. It was funny. I laughed out loud a lot. Hanks and Roberts pair well together and they’re charming enough that you want them to get together, as they, of course, eventually and obligingly do. In the supporting roles, I particularly liked George Takei’s slightly manic and off-center economics professor. Schwarzbaum dismisses his part as “an economics professor who sounds like Mr. Sulu,” but, if so, maybe it’s because Sulu sounds like George Takei. He’s still the funniest economics professor I’ve seen recently.

Yes, “Larry Crowne” is a fluffy, pat, feel-good story in which nothing ever seems really at risk, but sometimes I don’t want to feel at risk. I want to laugh and feel good. “Larry Crowne” made me laugh out loud and I left the theatre feeling good. That’s worth more than a C+ to me.

Saturday Night Double-Feature

Last night, I skipped Santa Monica’s yearly not-the-Fourth-of-July fireworks show, and, instead, watched two very bad movies on cable. Or parts of them. One was “Going the Distance” with Justin (“I’m a Mac, and no matter what I do for the rest of my life, that’s what you’ll remember me for”) Long and Drew Barrymore, playing two annoying and unpleasant people who are dealing with long-distance relationship issues. Before it ended I was honestly hoping for one of them to be killed in a plane crash during one of their expensive, booked-last-minute, cross-country flights.

The other turkey was “Robin Hood” with Russell Crowe (ah, Crowe/Turkey, I get the bird pun now; THANKS UNIVERSE!), that I had to turn off before I threw things at my Bravia, because the film’s whole premise was a complete rewrite of English history, with Richard being killed in battle returning from the Crusades (no, kids, he was not), and a rewrite of the myth, with “Robin” now a thug impersonating the dead Robin of Locksley (spelled “Loxley” in the credits).

The world did not need another expensive cinematic buggering of the Robin Hood myth—though, it would have been better if the mythic reboot had a storyline where Robin is captured by a wizard and cast into a deep sleep, only to awaken centuries later and, through a series of rom-com coincidences and cute misunderstandings, eventually ends up attacking, robbing, and killing Justin and Drew in “Going the Distance.” I’d buy a Blu-ray player just to watch that Robin Hood reboot over and over again.