| A Taylor Twofer: Ann Coulter and Al Franken
With a nod to this past weekend's Grateful Dead Symposium and the looming 2008 primary season, we draw together two interviews from Taylor Hill that draw together both topics...
"Deadheads Are What Liberals Claim to Be But Aren't": An Interview with Ann Coulter
When I called the Clare Booth Luce Policy Institute, whose chairwoman gives speeches on topics with titles like "The Failures of Feminism", and told the gatekeeper there that I wanted to do an interview with Ann Coulter solely about the Grateful Dead, there was a small pause. Then she recovered and politely told me to send her an e-mail, which she would forward to Ann. That, I expected, would be the end of it. When I got home that night, and saw an e-mail in my box from Ann Coulter, I thought "how polite of her to send a rejection letter rather than simply ignoring my proposal." Instead, I found that she had somehow written "I'd love to! Good website!" While she was delayed by a round of speeches to make up due to strep throat, and other events life throws out, we kept shooting e-mails back and forth and I discovered a secret that I will reveal despite the damage to her reputation that it may cause: Ann is really cool and really funny.
Blessings closer to home
Speaking as a misfit unassimilated foreigner, I think of Thanksgiving as the most American of holidays. Christmas is celebrated elsewhere, even if there are significant local variations.
In Continental Europe, naughty children get left rods to be flayed with and lumps of coal; in Britain, Christmas lasts from Dec. 22 to mid-January and celebrates the ancient cultural traditions of massive alcohol intake and watching TV till you pass out in a pool of your own vomit. All part of our world's rich diversity.
But Thanksgiving (excepting the premature and somewhat undernourished Canadian version) is unique to America. "What's it about?" an Irish visitor asked me a couple of years back. "Everyone sits around giving thanks all day? Thanks for what? George bloody Bush?"
Well, Americans have a lot to be thankful for.
Thingamajiggy: It's all in the touch
SYIDA LIZTA AMIRUL IHSAN gets to know the Apple iPod Touch 8GB. WHAT: Apple iPod Touch 8GB
IT�S LIKE: An intelligent, sexy and sensitive machine that responds to your slightest touch.
RATING: 14 out of 15 Mark �McSteamy� Sloan action figures.
PRICE: RM1,399
Q: Wow, for a handphone that is very, very slim.
A: But this is not a handphone. It�s the new iPod Touch that comes with an intelligent touch screen. Just touch the screen gently and you can do everything � browsing albums in cover flow, watching movies in full screen or wide screen, surfing the net and viewing your photos and zooming in on your favourite photo.
Q: Sounds pretty much like a PDA phone to me.
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