The Smarmy Carny

The 2,996 Project

Here is a touching September 11 tribute project that I have been watching develop for the past month or so. Thousands of blogs across the blogosphere will each be posting one tribute for one victim of the September 11 attacks.

Rather than further regurgitate the information provided over at 2,996, here is how that site describes the project:

2,996 is a tribute to the victims of 9/11.
On September 11, 2006, 2,996 volunteer bloggers will join together for a tribute to the victims of 9/11. Each person will pay tribute to a single victim.
We will honor them by remembering their lives, and not by remembering their murderers.
. . .
Thank you,
D.Challener Roe

Head over to the 2,996 page or see the list of 2,996 names along with links to their tributes.

For a categorized list, see the list of September 11 victims. (If the webpage is too busy, just check out Google's cache of the 9-11 victim list.

Thornton and Heder

School for Scoundrels looks to be an entertaining comedy revolving around a loser-turned-romantic battling a teacher of romance.

Roger (John Heder, best known as Napoleon Dynamite) is a down-on-his-luck loser who can't communicate properly with women. He has the ever-popular (and manly) job of NYC meter maid.

Tired of being pushed around whereever he goes, Roger enrolls in a confidence-building class taught by Dr. P (Billy Bob Thornton). He tells them not to bother with self-help books: "You can't help yourself because yourself sucks." Dr. P and his assistant Lesher (Michael Clarke Duncan) take the students through the dangerous yet effective confidence-building course. As promised, the program is successful for Roger: He switches from loser to lover and impresses his longtime crush Amanda (Jacinda Barrett).

After Dr. P congratulates Roger on his success, Roger makes the mistake of telling him, "Maybe one day I'll teach the class." This causes Dr. P's competitive side to come out, and Dr. P becomes obsessed with showing Roger that he is the master — by stealing Amanda away from him.

Watch the School for Scoundrels trailer and decide for yourself. Don't forget to check out the official site, too. The movie is scheduled to be released September 29, 2006.

Today I was tagged by Jono over at *insert witty title here* to play a word association game.

Here are the five words provided for me, followed by my associations:

• Stick — Post-It
• Bottle — Message
• Mint — Listerine
• Camera — Lens
• Trolley — San Francisco

I hereby dissolve myself from any conclusions anyone might make — trained or otherwise — regarding these thoughts from my subconscious. It's disturbing to me, however, that 3/5 of my answers are proper nouns. Two companies and one city. Perhaps I'm merely a product of television and advertisements. At least my Trolley answer wasn't Rice-A-Roni (the San Francisco treat).

And now, I pass the torch along to 5 more bloggers. Here are the 5 random words for them:

• Kumquat — ?
• Gobbledygook — ?
• Lollygag — ?
• Diphthong — ?
• Masticate — ?

You can always count on me to be less traditional and more eccentric than the rest.

And here are the five bloggers I am tagging:

• Jule Ann – Who is Jule Ann?
• xenomouse – Screaming for Mercy
• Marlene – Buffalo Tales from South Wales
• Abigail – Shotsnaps
• Jim – According to Jim…

Of course, these five wonderful people are obligated to post their responses on their own blog, choose five new words, and tap five other people to play!

OK, so I cheated and picked not-so-random words. All the words I selected were from my list of 100+ Fun Words to Say. So sue me! (Disclaimer: By "sue," what I really mean is "place no legal action against.")

Since all the bugs are hopefully headed into hiding for the wintertime soon, here are a few bug jokes you can tell them while they're still hanging around. Remember: I'm not responsible for rolled eyes, shaking heads, or any other ridicule you might experience as a result of telling these jokes!

Q: What has six wheels and flies?
A: A garbage truck!

Q: Where do bees go to the bathroom?
A: At the BP station!

Q: What insect does well in English class?
A: A spelling bee!

Q: What has 18 legs and catches flies?
A: A baseball team!

Q: What type of bugs live inside clocks?
A: Ticks!

Q: What did the boy fly say to the girl fly?
A: Excuse me — Is this stool taken?

Q: Why do bees have sticky hair?
A: Because they have honeycombs!

Man: Waiter, what's this fly doing in my soup?
Waiter: The backstroke!

Q: Why did the spider test drive the car?
A: So he could take it for a spin!

Q: How do fleas prefer to travel?
A: By itch-hiking!

Q: What do you call a bug with four wheels and a trunk?
A: A Volkswagen Beetle!

Q: What's worse than finding a worm in your apple?
A: Finding half a worm in your apple!

Ferrell as Harold Crick

Stranger Than Fiction looks to be a crisp comedy with roles well-suited for Will Ferrell, Emma Thompson, and Dustin Hoffman. It's due out November 10, in time for the Thanksgiving Hollywood push. Based on the trailer and other media I have seen thus far, I have placed it on my List of Movies to See (until I see it, of course).

Karen "Kay" Eiffel (Emma Thompson) is a depressive author who is suffering from writers block because she can't figure out how to kill off her main character, Harold Crick (Will Ferrell). Harold Crick is an IRS agent with OCD who lives alone, eats alone, and sleeps alone. Unbeknownst to Key, Harold is a real person, and he begins to hear Kay narrating his life as she writes it.

Harold visits a professor of English literature, Professor Jules Hilbert (Dustin Hoffman), who gives him advice about how to interact and react with the narration and developing storyline.

Finally, Key has a breakthrough and figures out how to kill him. As she foreshadows the events in her book, Harold is alerted to his imminent death. After hearing Kay on a talk show, he sets out to find the author narrating (and controlling?) his life.

Also in the movie are Maggie Gyllenhaal as Ana, the love interest and Queen Latifah as Penny, Kay's assistant.

See the trailer for Stranger Than Fiction. Be sure to visit Sony's Stranger Than Fiction site (and click on "Enter the Site") to experience this well-developed site. (Kay narrates your cursor's movements as you navigate the site.)