The Carnival of the Vanities 2003 Finale is up at Hypocrisy and Hypotheses. It's a fairly light read this week due to so many bloggers being out and about for the holidays. Light compared to a typical Carnival anyway, it's still a monster compared to the Bestofme Symphony. For now. ;-)

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The Letter of the Day is was "R".

You need to use "R" twice to accurately describe French coverage of the U.S.-led war in Iraq.

PARIS - Reporter Alain Hertoghe's book accused the French press of not being objective in its coverage of the U.S.-led war in Iraq. His newspaper fired him.

The book, "La Guerre a Outrances" (The War of Outrages), criticizes the French reporting for continually predicting the war would end badly for the U.S.-led coalition.

"As soon as there were a couple of wounded, of dead, they were talking about Vietnam, Stalingrad," Hertoghe said.

"The French public was so carried away," he said. The journalists, he wrote in the book, "dreamed of an American defeat."

Besides war coverage in La Croix, the book examines that of the independent Le Monde, the conservative Le Figaro, the leftist Liberation and the regional daily Ouest-France, which has the largest circulation in France.

Over three weeks, the five papers carried 29 headlines condemning Saddam's dictatorship and 135 blaming Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

(Hat tip to BigWig)

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Normally the tradition is to light the fire at midnight but when you've got this much refuse to burn you've gotta start early. Go and enjoy the festivities at the special year end wrap-up of the Bonfire of the Vanities.

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The fourth performance of the Bestofme Symphony has 16 participants and 22 submissions. Several readers rallied to find favorites in the archives of their blog reads to make sure we had a symphony instead of an ensemble. Special thanks to Jennifer, Susie and Ilyka for their extra-blogular submissions.

Submit to the Symphony: Want to be a part of next week's edition? Check out this post for submission info.

Spread the word: Webloggers, how about a post linking to this Symphony? Participation was astounding this week, considering that overall blogging is so light over the Christmas weekend, but your continued support is what's keeping the Bestofme Symphony in concert.

Email Reminders: If you'd like to be sent a reminder about the Symphony, drop me a line at this address. It's not a mailing list, just me sending out friendly little reminders. There'll be one on Thursday or Friday to remind you to submit for the next symphony and one on Monday with a link to the freshly posted Symphony.

Without further ado, I present the fourth edition of the Bestofme Symphony: more...

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...on the Bonfire of the Vanities. The worst of the blogosphere is once again offered up for your derision. It's worth checking out for Kevin's disses though. He's getting damned good at 'em.

The bonfire is going to be raging across the blogosphere starting in January. If you're interested in hosting it then check your head for loose rocks 'cause you could be hosting the Bestofme Symphony instead.

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Winds of Change is hosting a special Christmas spirit Carnival of the Vanities. They used my very favorite format - "easy to read".

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Accent on coming. This is why I love Christmas Carols.

(Hat tip to Dopple-G)

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The third performance of the Bestofme Symphony has an astounding 19 participants and 21 submissions. Why is that astounding (since the previous Symphony had 27 participants)? Because not only is this the holiday week but I did no agressive recruitment. For the innaugural performance I hit up the people on my blogroll. Last week I emailed people who had participated in the Carnival of the Vanities. This week I did nothing but post reminders on my own site and send email to the people on my reminder list. I believe that in only its 3rd week, the Bestofme Symphony has gathered enough momentum to keep itself flying (with your continued support, of course)!

Submit to the Symphony: Want to be a part of next week's edition? Check out this post for submission info.

Spread the word: Webloggers, please consider putting up a post linking to this Symphony. The faster this becomes a well known weblog meme, the sooner I'll stop begging you to link to it. See? We all win if you link.

Email Reminders: If you'd like to be sent a reminder about the Symphony, drop me a line at this address. It's not a mailing list, just me sending out friendly little reminders. There'll be one on Thursday or Friday to remind you to submit for the next symphony and one on Monday with a link to the freshly posted Symphony.

Without further ado, I present the third edition of the Bestofme Symphony: more...

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1 Thanks.

Posted by: LeeAnn at December 22, 2003 11:45 AM (HxCeX)

2 My pleasure, LeeAnn. Keep 'em coming!

Posted by: Jim at December 22, 2003 11:51 AM (IOwam)

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I'm linking to this post, which is moderately humorus though by no means overtly link worthy, in order to appease Bunsen.

There, that's two links, Bunsen. Now dance, monkey! Dance!

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This above slogan is for Helen, who introduced us to the term "throat yogurt" today. Slogan courtesy of The Advertising Slogan Generator.

Honorable mention to:

• Make Throat Yogurt Yours


• Think Throat Yogurt


• Out Of The Strong Came Forth Throat Yogurt


• Drinka Pinta Throat Yogurt A Day

(Link stolen fair und square from DeAnna)

Two Five Points for the first person to comment where I got "fair und square" from.

Update: I had no idea how esoteric "fair und square" was! I know the answer and it took me over a half hour to find it on the web in the wee hours of the morning. Therefore I have increased the points to five and will give hints:

• Aired in 1975


• Minor villain in a Saturday morning cartoon

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And it's decidedly unwise to tempt Ilyka. Sometimes she takes you up on it. Ever get one of those presents that you're not sure whether it's coal or diamonds? Yeah, me too.

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The 65th edition of the Carnival of the Vanities is up at Drumwaster's Rants. Go and see all the bloggy goodness.

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and so the poor blogger had none."

Kate has been missing for so long her front page is empty. Since the last thing she posted was about going to the doctor I've progressed to a state of genuine worry. Anybody have news on the Venomous One?

UPDATE: Kelley's got news. Kate's alive and doing passably well. She's still suffering from her back injury and has had limited access to phones and internet due to storms. That'll teach me to post before reading my blogroll.

Join me now in a collective sigh of relief.

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1 Ok now we know where Kate is....where's DON?????

Posted by: Tiffani at December 17, 2003 10:03 AM (0i1dP)

2 Don is back too.

Posted by: Jim at December 17, 2003 10:54 AM (IOwam)

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And since we've no place to go, let's go check out the flaming trash heap that is The Bonfire of the Vanities.

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The Bestofme Symphony is showing good growth with the second edition attracting 33 submissions by 27 people. Much thanks to the people who've submitted posts either from their own weblogs or from ones they read. Thanks also to the webloggers who've posted about the Bestofme Symphony to get the word out to the Blogosphere.

Submit!: Want to be a part of next week's edition? Check out this post for submission info.

Spread the word: Webloggers, please consider putting up a post linking to this Symphony. The faster this becomes a well known weblog meme, the sooner I'll stop begging you to link to it. See? We all win if you link.

Email Reminders: If you'd like to be sent a reminder about the Symphony, drop me a line at this address. It's not a mailing list, just me sending out friendly little reminders. There'll be one on Thursday or Friday to remind you to submit for the next symphony and one on Monday with a link to the freshly posted Symphony.

So without further ado, I present the second edition of the Bestofme Symphony: more...

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The Flick Filosopher weighs in on The Cat in the Hat and le gateau fails to make the scales.

For true nightmare-inducing terror, Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat is the film to beat, and Gothika can't hope to stand a chance against it. The title itself is an affront, for there's nothing Seussian about it, and in fact it makes 2000's The Grinch, which at the time was the most abyssal insult to Seuss I could imagine, look like a masterpiece of wit and subtlety. Who in their right mind would consider a nonstop barrage of toilet humor and riffs on late-night infomercials and gross-outs and a sexually aggressive six-foot-tall cat and creepy children and illegal employment practices the stuff of a good film, never mind a good film for kids?

You can always tell that MaryAnn feels strongly about a movie when she forgets how to stop a sentence.

Of course, The Cat in the Hat made $40 gazillion this opening weekend, which Hollywood will interpret as a sign that this is the kind of film that kids and moms and dads are genuinely enjoying, and not a sign that this is the most disgustingly overly marketed film in recent memory and you can't watch a commercial for household cleaning products or walk by a Burger King or buy a postage stamp without being assaulted by a six-foot-tall cat and we all know few parents can resist the high-pitched whine of a kid who's been overly marketed at and will simply not shut up until he gets what he wants: in this case, a ticket to Cat in the Hat and a Value Combo.

Why is Ms. Johansen my critic of choice? 'Tude and emotion, aptly applied. You can't get real opinions like this from Stan and Ollie Siskel and Ebert. Especially since Stan Siskel passed away.

All I know is if I have to look much longer at those damned weird little midget Things in their leotards trying to sell me Delivery Confirmation at the post office, I'm gonna go postal.

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There are about a gazillion of those quizzes about "What flavor dressing are you?" or "Which one of the Rug Rats are you?" but this one kicks ass.

Which Class of Federation Starship are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

You are a Galaxy-class Explorer, a top of the line
luxury-liner with teeth. You prefer refinement
and appreciate beauty. You're well-apt at
diplomacy and are trusted to handle crises.
Despite a changing world with new, you still
have a reputation for unparalleled excellence.

That's right, y'all. I'm the frikken Enterprise!

(Found over at XSet)

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Rob has a collection of discoveries from his journey through 3 consecutive days of Christmas parties. Words to live by. Here's my favorite:

2) Never EVER feel pressured into drinking Vodka just because you are at a Polish party and that's all there is to drink... they invented it and as such have the necessary genes to process it succesfully. Non-poles on the other hand do not have said genes and as such will wake up the following morning with a hangover that makes you want to rend your brain from your freshly splitting skull and gives you the distinct impression that, at some point the previous night, an elderly male moose mistook your mouth for a urinal...

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It must be the heat coming off of the Bonfire of the Vanities.

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Get your minds out of the gutter, people. I'm talking about her interview with Jimmy Fallon on Saturday Night Live.

Jimmy: As we agreed we won't be discussing the scandal that's been in the papers these last couple of weeks.

Paris: Thank you Jimmy, I appreciate that.

Jimmy: We just want to find out about you, Paris Hilton. So, your family, the Hiltons, own hotels all over the world.

Paris: Yes, they're in New York, London, Paris...

Jimmy: So there's actually a Paris Hilton?

Paris: Yes, there is.

Jimmy: Is it hard to get into the Paris Hilton?

Paris: Actually, it's a very exclusive hotel...no matter what you've heard.

Jimmy: I hear the Paris Hilton is very beautiful.

Paris: I'm glad you heard that.

Jimmy: Do they allow double occupancy at the Paris Hilton?

Paris: No.

Jimmy: Is it roomy?

Paris: It might be for you, but most people find it very comfortable.

Jimmy: I'm a V.I.P.. I may need to go in the back entrance.

Paris: It doesn't matter who you are, it's not gonna happen.

Jimmy: Fair enough. Now, I throw a lot of events, do they have a ballroom there?

Paris: We do.

Jimmy: Great. I'd love to have my balls held by the Paris Hilton. I'd like to check into the Paris Hilton.

Paris: I don't think you can.

Jimmy: Really? Because I'll only be able to stay there like a minute and a half. Two minutes tops.

Paris: Good luck.

(Hat tip to Dopple-G who found it at Buzz Machine)

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