Because two of my favorites are on the list

Here's Life's photo essay, "Sexiest Men of the 50s, 60s, and 70s."

Which two? Travolta (don't laugh...just watch that man MOVE) and Newman.

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Stupid new mammogram guidelines.

Karen Tumulty, at Time's blog, has a great opinion piece out today, "A Word About My Breasts." It resonates with me because I too have had scares, and subsequent mammograms (at not yet 40). So have many of my friends--both young and older.

And most of us are okay...but some are not...and some are dead. That's reason enough for me to keep getting checked out. My bill for my latest (doctor-recommended) scan is sitting on the table at home. My insurance company denied payment for it. I'll fight it out with them, and I'll keep fighting to get checked annually, as every doctor I've seen would have recommended before these new "guidelines" came out.

All of that said, I do like the "ESPN-inspired" approach in this Slate piece. Would its application have resulted in me getting screened? I don't know. You can calculate your personal risk of breast cancer for yourself, ladies, at this site if you're so inclined. As for me, I would rather have too much information, and the reassurance of having been "cleared" for another year.

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Twilight/New Moon: "You know you're in trouble with a sequel"

"...when the word of mouth advises you to see the first movie twice instead."

Thanks, Roger Ebert! Here's more, because it makes me laugh:

Bella (Kristen Stewart) is still living at home with her divorced dad (Billy Burke), a cop whose disciplinary policy involves declaring her grounded for the rest of her life and then disappearing so she can jump from cliffs, haunt menacing forests, and fly to Italy so the movie can evoke the sad final death scene from--why, hold on, it's Romeo and Juliet! The very play Edward was reciting narcissistically and contemptuously in an opening scene.

Yes, Edward (Robert Pattinson) is back in school, repeating the 12th grade for the 84th time. Bella sees him in the school parking lot, walking toward her in slow-motion, wearing one of those Edwardian Beatles jackets with a velvet collar, pregnant with his beauty. How white his skin, how red his lips. The decay of middle age may transform him into the Joker.

Edward and the other members of the Cullen vampire clan stand around a lot with glowering skulks. Long pauses interrupt longer ones.
...
Bella writes long letters to her absent vampire friend Alice (Ashley Greene), in which she does nothing to explain why she is helplessly attracted to these sinister, humorless and vain men. It can't be the sex. As I've already explained in my review of the first film, The Twilight Saga is an extended metaphor for teen chastity, in which the punishment for being deflowered I will leave to your imagination.

The movie includes beauteous fields filled with potted flowers apparently buried hours before by the grounds crew, and nobody not clued in on the plot. Since they know it all and we know all, sitting through this experience is like driving a pickup in low gear though a sullen sea of Brylcreem.

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Fun state drawings by various US Senators

Check these out! We all knew that Al Franken could draw a map, but I was intrigued to learn that some other United States Senators are similarly talented! Wyoming's Michael Enzi gets the easiest assignment of this bunch, though.

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Best Neighborhoods For Halloween Candy

Real estate site "Zillow.com" just came up with the most ingenious idea to promote its website...it is calculating the best neighborhoods in which to score Halloween candy in five major cities.

There is a common belief that wealthy neighborhoods are the Holy Grail for harvesting the most Halloween candy. However, to provide a more holistic approach to Halloween trick-or-treating, the Zillow Trick-or-Treat Housing Index was calculated using four equally weighted data variables: Zillow Home Value Index, population density, Walk Score, and local crime data. Based on those variables, this Index represents neighborhoods that will provide the most candy, with the least walking, and minimal safety risks.

More candy...less effort: this Internet thingie is so useful!

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Beware...Beware...THE MAGIC MARKER BANDITS

It's true...compared to many other states, Iowa doesn't have a high crime rate.

And also: when they strike, they tend not to be so bright.

Case in point: these dudes who ALLEGEDLY tried to rob the house of a guy who MAY have been fooling around with the girlfriend of one of these banditos. The general idea was simply to scare him--and that's pretty easy when you disguise yourself with permanent marker...

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Roman Polanski should be thanking his lucky stars...

that his victim's father didn't think of doing this.

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What's the public option again?

A nice explanation is here. Thanks, Matt Iglesias!

Or we can just call it Medicare.

George Lakoff is right. Branding matters.

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Penny-pinching state governments should eliminate the death penalty

Political hot-button issues seem to ebb and flow in the public consciousness. After a brutal crime in our state, you can safely predict that calls for the death penalty will increase. Here's a way for anti-death-penalty folks to combat those predictable reactions...by reminding lawmakers of the significant (REALLY significant) cost savings to be had in refusing to institute the death penalty--or even in repealing it if it already is on the books in their state.

The Christian Science Monitor has details.

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