Tuesday Quickies

• A little late - For me at least. Educators are waking up (buh-dump) to the fact that starting classes at oh-dark-30 every morning is not the best idea ever. Ezra Klein has further thoughts:

  More to the family values point, the actual impact of such an early beginning is an early end, meaning teens have plenty of time to hang out afterschool while their parents are still at work. The average schoolday, in my experience, is 7:30 to 2:30. But given the rise in dual-worker families, having kids leave campus closer to five would be good for everyone, so why not make it 9:30 to 4:30? Nobody, after all, has the energy to get into trouble before 8am, and after five, as I well remember, it gets much harder.

  Given my morning issues (ok, more generally punctuality issues, but mostly morning...), I'm left to lament "Oh, were it that way back in my day..."

• George Will wields a sharp knife - his intro to today's piece:

  Before evolution produced creatures of our perfection, there was a three-ton dinosaur, the stegosaurus, so neurologically sluggish that when its tail was injured, significant time elapsed before news of the trauma meandered up its long spine to its walnut-size brain. This primitive beast, not the dignified elephant, should be the symbol of House Republicans.

  Ouch.

• Papa Pooh was inducted into the Church of The 'Stache last night. And it was good.

• Wha Happened to Heather Graham? The most entertaining reviews are the bad ones - which might mean that RollerGirl's new show will make for better reading than viewing. Slate does the dirty here:

  What happened to Heather Graham's career? She was so arresting to watch from the moment she skated onscreen as Rollergirl
  . . .
  Ever since Boogie Nights, though, Heather Graham has struggled to find a place on the big or small screen. Eight years later, after appearing in a steady stream of utter dogs (Killing Me Softly, Say It Isn't So) or forgettable mediocrities (From Hell, Sidewalks of New York), she has yet to make a lasting impression in any role. What Graham has been best at is playing a parody of her own sexiness, the unwitting object of knuckle-biting male desire: Felicity Shagwell in the second Austin Powers movie or Dr. Molly Clock, the mouthwatering attending psychiatrist, in a brief guest stint on Scrubs.
  

• Ben. Wallace.:
  
  
  

  

  
  Yeah.



• And, let's not forget, tommorow is the unveiling Asshole of the Week. I put myself in consideration, mostly for haunting this website, but I can't. As far as parody blogs go, that one does not equal Harriet Miers' but its close. Other worthy nominees included this ****face and the window opening guy in this story (thanks to Bill for the pointer). Watch this space for the winner.

P.S. - Icepick, I have not forgotten the Vince Young issue. Am working on it.